Delay Penalty Stalls Servite; No. 4 Esperanza Hangs On

Thursday’s nonleague game between Esperanza and Servite at Valencia High was remarkably well played until the final minute of the third quarter.

That’s when an impressive drive by surprising Servite stalled at the Aztec eight-yard line on a delay of game penalty.

Fourth-ranked Esperanza, which dodged Friar bullets all night, went on to hold off Servite, 20-14.

“That was big, real big,” Esperanza Coach Gary Meek said of the five-yard penalty, which pushed the Friars back to the Esperanza 13-yard line from which a field-goal attempt two plays later failed.

“That’s first-game stuff.” Meek said. “It happens all the time this time of year.”

Unranked Servite, trailing by only three points at the time, appeared ready to reclaim the lead. The Friars got an interception from defensive back Frank Magdelano and marched from the Esperanza 45 to the eight, where it had a third down and three yards to go when quarterback Dan Petropolus couldn’t get the play off in time.

“We have to have a little more poise on offense,” Servite Coach Larry Toner said. “There we were on the eight and we couldn’t get the ball in.”

After a slow start, Aztec quarterback Grant Wagner, who was intercepted twice, rallied Esperanza with his passing and finished with 227 yards. But the Aztecs were less than efficient offensively, being stopped twice on fourth down plays deep inside Servite territory. And early in the fourth quarter, Esperanza had a first down at the Servite one-yard line, coming away with just a field goal.

“A bad night offensively, for us. Not good at all,” Meek said.

Servite took a 7-3 lead 24 seconds into the second quarter on a two-yard run by Tyrone Gribben.

Wagner, expected to be among the county’s best, showed why on the next drive, directing an eight play, 59-yard drive that concluded with a three-yard touchdown pass to Nick Vicencia with 8:40 left in the quarter.

Esperanza got the ball back three plays later on an interception by Ben Mastropaolo, but the Friar defense stiffened and stopped Wagner on a quarterback sneak on fourth and one at the Friar 21.

Good running from Matt Gogan and fullback Mark Bedard got the ball deep into Aztec territory and then Gribben used a nice trap block to race 27 yards to the Aztec one-yard line. Gogan’s one-yard run made it 14-10 in favor of Servite.