Tie With Loyola Is Suitable for Amat

Going into Friday’s game against Bishop Amat High, Loyola knew it needed a victory to have a shot at winning the Del Rey League. The Lancers needed only a tie.

And when Dennis Wyrick caught Chris Rix’s 37-yard pass for a touchdown with 32 seconds left, that’s exactly what they got, a 7-7 tie before 5,000 at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

The tie not only kept Bishop Amat (9-0-1 overall, 2-0-1 in conference) unbeaten, it gave the Lancers the title and the league’s top seeding for the playoffs.

“I knew I had to come through for the team,” said Wyrick, who was held without a catch until the fourth quarter, when he caught two for 42 yards. “They switched corners on me before the play. I just went up and got it.”

Wyrick wasn’t the only one shut down by Loyola (8-1-1, 1-1-1).

Running back Michael Wagner had 89 yards, but needed 23 caries.

“Our defense jumped all over him,” Loyola Coach Steve Grady said. “We played our hearts out and dominated a team everyone thought couldn’t be beat.

“One official made questionable calls and it’s hard to see it taken away from these kids.”

The call he referred to was an unsportsmanlike penalty against the Loyola bench on third down, which led to a fourth-and-20 from the Loyola 20 with two minutes remaining.

That set up good field position for Bishop Amat, which had to go only 53 yards for the tying score.

“I don’t know what was said or who said it,” Cub quarterback Chris Peterson said. “All I know is it hurt our field position.”

Peterson finished four-of-nine passing for 70 yards in a game that saw only 25 passes attempted.

Running back John Grady carried the load for the Cubs, gaining 103 yards in 33 carries.

A win by Loyola would have createda three-way tie for the league title and set up a coin flip this morning to determine the winner.

Instead, Bishop Amat is the only unbeaten team in league.

Notre Dame gets the second spot with a 2-1 league record and the Cubs must wait until Sunday to see if they receive an at-large bid.

“This is the first time a tie felt like a win,” Bishop Amat Coach Tom Salter said. “They played super defense and we did, too.”

But Salter said the Lancers can’t be satisfied with the way they played Friday.

“We need to play better,” he said. “But this league did a nice job in preparing us for the playoffs.”