Agoura Miscues Dampen Offense

Dropped passes. Fumbles. Ill-timed penalties.

Agoura High (8-5) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1989 by avoiding these types of miscues, but is now out of the playoffs because of them.

Arroyo Grande (8-4) turned two fumbles into touchdowns in a 33-30 victory over Agoura in the Southern Section Division IV playoffs Friday night at Agoura.

Chris Denove completed 28 of 61 passes for 402 yards and four touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough to extend Agoura’s season.

Fumbles carried the day.

Agoura trailed at halftime, 19-16, but Brad Kahan fumbled after a reception on the third play of the third quarter.

On the next play, Andrew Ghiglia scored on a 43-yard touchdown. Ghiglia finished with 290 yards and four touchdowns for Arroyo Grande, which plays the winner of tonight’s Lompoc-Ventura game for the championship.

Agoura also committed a costly turnover in the second quarter, when Denove fumbled a snap from center on the Agoura 11. Ghiglia scored on the next play.

“I told everybody this game was going to come down to turnovers and penalties,” Agoura Coach Charlie Wegher said. “We had a great, great year and a great run. I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to go into a game next week.”

Winning by close margins has become passe for Arroyo Grande, which defeated Thousand Oaks by two points and Buena by four in its first two playoff games.

“I would not like to be on the other end,” Arroyo Grande Coach Jon Huss said. “It must be a lot of emotional pain because they played very well.”

The Chargers were anything but electric in the first quarter, getting blown off the line of scrimmage like trees in a hurricane.

They surrendered 219 yards rushing and trailed, 12-0, giving no indication they would make a game of it.

Then came the second quarter.

The Chargers stood tall against the run, forced a fumble and converted it into a touchdown, with Denove hitting Ted Gooch for an eight-yard score.

After Ghiglia’s 11-yard touchdown run, the Chargers rebounded with a 69-yard drive capped by a 17-yard pass from Denove to Steve Tagai with 3.2 seconds left in the half. Agoura trailed, 19-16.

But the early fumble in the second half was too much to overcome.

“This was a new experience for all of us,” Denove said. “[Arroyo Grande] stuck it to us and beat us up. We didn’t have the manpower to stick with them.”

Agoura running back Brad Altman, who entered with more than 1,400 yards on the season, had only 46 yards in eight carries.

Jordan Grossbart had 10 catches for 113 yards for Agoura. Kahan had eight catches for 128 yards.