Loyola Beats Bishop Amat the Long Way

Loyola High defensive tackle Mike Long had waited 10 months for the opportunity he got Friday night. And he was determined not to let anyone--including his coaches--stand in his way.

Long shunned the standard defensive strategy and broke through to make a clutch tackle on a key fourth-and-one play late in the third quarter to help preserve third-ranked Loyola’s 3-0 victory over host La Puente Bishop Amat before an estimated 7,500.

Loyola, 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Del Rey League, defeated Bishop Amat (6-1, 1-1) for only the third time in 19 attempts.

“I’ve been thinking about this game since January,” said the 6-4, 246-pound Long, who recorded 13 tackles, including four for losses. “This is our biggest rival, so it is the game of the year for me. I was more fired up than I’ve ever been.”

Long’s emotion’s peaked on his own 10-yard line with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter with his team clinging to a 3-0 advantage.

Fourth-ranked Bishop Amat needed one yard on fourth down to keep a potential go-ahead touchdown drive going.

Long knew before the snap who was going to get the ball and he knew which direction the ball was headed.

The first part of the equation was easy. Everyone in the stadium knew that Bishop Amat running back Mike Wagner (118 yards in 22 carries) would receive the handoff. He entered the game with 1,038 yards and 19 touchdowns and an 8.6 rushing average.

The second part was an educated guess.

“The coaching strategy in that situation is to play it straight away and protect my lane, but I knew the ball was going to go away from me,” said Long, who said he will probably attend Princeton next year. “I had been listening closely to their snap counts in that formation and they sounded the same as they had all game, so I cheated and broke quickly to my right [at the snap] and broke through cleanly for the tackle.”

Wagner didn’t have a chance, as Long smothered him at the 12-yard line.

Bishop Amat Coach Tom Salter could have played it safe and attempted a game-tying field goal, but decided to gamble.

“It was fourth-and-one and I thought we should go for it,” said Salter. “I thought we could make it.”

Shaun Mutch gave Loyola the only points it would need with five minutes remaining in the second quarter by kicking a 33-yard goal that cleared the cross bar by at least 20 yards.