Los Alamitos Offers Too Many Weapons

Lakewood High’s plan of attack against second-seeded Los Alamitos was simple: Run the option down their throats and maybe keep the score close.

The Lancers took an early one-point lead in the first quarter, but such an approach can hardly hold up against a team with as many weapons as the Griffins.

Quarterback Ryan Hanson passed for 246 yards and three touchdowns and Josiah Doby ran for 172 yards and two scores in about three quarters as Los Alamitos shook off an early letdown for a 45-14 victory in a Southern Section Division I first-round game at Gahr High.

The Griffins (11-0) will play Fontana (10-1), which beat San Clemente, 17-7.

No one can blame the Lancers (5-6) for staying with their conservative offense. They had good success with it during Moore League play, after switching out of the Power I at midseason.

Running back Phillip Perry, a converted tight end, carried 24 times for 102 yards and one touchdown, mostly on dive plays, but Lakewood barely got the option untracked.

“It keeps the clock going and it’s tough on you pounding the ball over and over again,” said Los Alamitos lineman Bernard Riley. “Once you get behind it’s tough to get any momentum going. They really needed to air it out.”

Hanson was doing just that. After overthrowing receivers on his first two attempts, he completed 14 of his final 15 attempts. Doby also started slowly, but once he got rolling he was tough to stop. On his 20-yard touchdown run up the middle, he broke about half a dozen tackles and staked Los Alamitos to a 21-7 lead.

The Griffins took a 6-0 lead on a 41-yard fumble return for a score by defensive back Barndon Cheri three minutes into the game. But Lakewood got a 64-yard kickoff return from Shung Peoples to the Los Alamitos 35-yard line.

Perry cracked the line four of the next seven plays for a combined 20 yards, including a four-yard scoring run with 6 minutes 15 seconds left in the first quarter. Dustin Paladino’s kick made it 7-6.

But after that it was all Los Alamitos.

The Griffins got the lead back for good on a 17-yard touchdown toss from Hanson to Keenan Howry and a two-point conversion.

By that time the Griffins’ front line had figured out the Lancers’ attack and the yards weren’t coming as easily for Perry, who carried 17 times in the first half.

“We made some adjustments and decided put to guys on the quarterback,” linebacker Paul Publico said. “We decided that, if they were going to beat us, it was going to be with the pitch.”