Orange County Gets a Kick Out of Sprague for Victory

The kicking game was the deciding factor in the Los Angeles-Orange County high school all-star football game Saturday at Cerritos College.

Los Angeles kicked the ball around, committing five turnovers.

Orange County kicker Chris Sprague of Irvine University made two field goals, including the game winning 31-yard kick in the third quarter of Orange County’s 13-10 victory.

Sprague’s field goal with 4:02 left in the quarter capped a drive that started when Los Angeles punter Esteban Lopez of Claremont downed a bad snap deep in Los Angeles territory.

“All week special teams didn’t click in practice,” Sprague said. “It clicked today.”

Sprague’s first field goal, a 28-yard kick, gave Orange County a 10-3 lead with 4:37 left in the second quarter.

Los Angeles quarterback Danny Alanis of Santa Fe completed nine of 17 passes for 133 yards, but had three ntercepted. He threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Ray Ochoa of Bell Gardens to tie the score, 10-10, with 1:11 remaining in the second quarter.

Alanis had two passes intercepted in the second half, including one at midfield with four minutes left in the game.

Orange County had only one turnover.

“I don’t even know what happened,” Alanis said. “We had balls slipping out of our hands at the worst times.”

Quinton Jones of Los Alamitos led Orange County with 40 yards rushing in seven carries.

Quarterback Morgan Craig of Newport Beach Newport Harbor completed seven of 14 passes for 70 yards for Orange County.

His 23-yard touchdown pass to Nick Garton of Dana Point Dana Hills gave Orange County a 7-3 lead with 1:01 left in the first quarter.