La Quinta Beats the Clock, and Laguna Beach

Dustin Do scored with 15 seconds remaining in the game to give La Quinta High a 20-19 victory over host Laguna Beach Friday.

The winning drive capped a 14-point second-half comeback for La Quinta, which went 0-10 in 1999.

Trailing, 19-14, with 5:01 left in the game, La Quinta’s Pablo Reyes recovered a Laguna Beach fumble on the Artists’ six-yard line.

Laguna Beach’s defense held the Aztecs’ top rusher, Elijah German, to three yards on the next three carries. That set up a fourth down on the Laguna Beach three.

La Quinta quarterback Giai Do faked a handoff to German, then rolled right and passed to a wide open Dustin Do for the winning score.

La Quinta’s second-half heroics overshadowed a solid performance by Laguna Beach’s Todd Merz, who completed nine of 24 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns.Jason Boyd rushed for 89 yards in nine carries, including a 70-yard touchdown run.

La Quinta led, 6-0, early in the second quarter before Merz found Will Blodgett behind the Aztec defense for 60-yard TD pass. Minutes later, Boyd’s 70-yard run gave Laguna Beach a 12-6 lead.

A 19-yard pass from Merz to Blodgett gave Laguna Beach a 19-6 lead at the half.

Blodgett also led the way on defense with three interceptions.