Bishop Amat, Loyola Triumph

Teams with .500 records typically aren’t expected to do much in the Southern Section football playoffs. La Puente Bishop Amat might be an exception.

The Lancers rolled up 397 yards rushing and thoroughly dominated two-time defending Serra League champion Santa Margarita during a 37-20 victory Friday night at Saddleback College, solidifying Bishop Amat’s once-shaky playoff aspirations.

The Lancers (5-5, 2-3 in league) won their final two games to finish in a three-way tie with Anaheim Servite and Los Angeles Loyola for third place in league.

A series of coin flips will be held this morning to determine the league’s third and final guaranteed playoff entry.

Bellflower St. John Bosco (8-2, 5-0) defeated Santa Ana Mater Dei, 28-27, in overtime, on Thursday to win the league title. Mater Dei (8-2, 3-2) finished second in the league.

The teams that lose the coin flips must hope for at-large berths in the playoffs -- a likely proposition given the relative weakness of at-large hopefuls in the three other Division I leagues.

Santa Margarita (6-4, 1-4), No. 20 in The Times’ rankings, suffered a first-to-worst turnaround in league play but will probably receive an at-large postseason berth because of its six victories and difficult nonleague schedule.

The Eagles trailed by 10 points late in the fourth quarter and had a chance to cut the deficit to eight on a two-point conversion attempt, but receiver Bobby Whithorne was stopped just short of the goal line after catching a pass from Case Colaw.

Bishop Amat’s Vincent Vasquez corralled a high hop on the ensuing onside kick and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown for the final margin.

Chris Seals finished with 187 yards rushing and two touchdowns in 25 carries for the Lancers, who registered their first victory over Santa Margarita in three tries.

“We’ve always been this good,” Seals said. “We had a couple of games where we came out flat, but we’ve always been here.”

-- Ben Bolch

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L.A. Loyola 21, Anaheim Servite 12 -- Bo Renaud rushed for 165 yards and two touchdowns in 34 carries and Scott Doke completed 13 of 23 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown to lead the Cubs to the upset at Fullerton High.

Loyola (7-3, 2-3) trailed, 6-0, at halftime but scored touchdowns on three of its first four second-half possessions.

Doke completed six of eight passes for 139 yards in the second half and hit Jesus Cuellar for a 45-yard touchdown to make it 7-6 only 1 minute 55 seconds into the third quarter.

Renaud, who gained only 32 yards in 10 first-half carries, turned it around in the second half, scoring on runs of two and seven yards to give the Cubs a 21-6 lead with 6:13 left.

No. 15 Servite (7-3, 2-3) went 80 yards on eight plays on its first possession, capped by a 43-yard catch-and-run score by Matthew Slater.

Ryan Coffelt, who hit Slater for a 53-yard score with 5:04 left, finished seven of 19 passing for 154 yards. Slater caught five passes for 124 yards.

-- Mark Alaia