Mission Viejo Holds On, 14-13

Fountain Valley Coach Eric Johnson said he had been thinking about beating Mission Viejo for a long time, so when the opportunity arose Friday night at Huntington Beach High, he had to go for it.

After the Barons scored a touchdown with one second left and trailing by one point, they went for the two-point conversion but came up short, losing the nonleague game, 14-13.

The teams, before the game, had agreed to play overtime, but that wasn’t really an option for Johnson.

“Our guys were tired,” Johnson said. “I wanted to decide it like that. I wanted to beat them this way.”

For Mission Viejo, No. 2 in The Times’ preseason rankings, it was a wake-up call.

“We’re a young team,” Diablo Coach Bob Johnson said. “We do whatever we have to do to win.”

Backup quarterback Chris Debowski gave Fountain Valley (1-1) the chance to end the Diablos’ winning streak at 28.

Replacing Kyle Feiler with 6 minutes 34 seconds left and his team trailing, 14-7, Debowski drove the Barons 88 yards in 15 plays and converted three fourth-down situations. He capped the drive on a nine-yard sweep, diving into the end zone to make it 14-13. On the two-point try, however, when he couldn’t find an open receiver he tried to run it in again but was stopped at the two.

Mission Viejo (1-0) took a 7-0 lead with 8:48 to play in the first half on a five-yard run by fullback Jedidiah Collins.

Fountain Valley tied the score, 7-7, on the ensuing drive, going 80 yards and scoring on a five-yard pass from Feiler to David Schenewerk.

Mission Viejo made it 14-7 after Marty Tadman returned a punt 57 yards to Fountain Valley’s 14 and, three plays later, quarterback Mark Sanchez connected with Chane Moline on a 14-yard pass with 6:41 left.

Sanchez was 13 of 21 passing for 149 yards and Tadman had seven catches for 69 yards.

Melanie Neff

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West Covina South Hills 14, Claremont 6 -- Defending Division VII champion South Hills scored on its first drive of each half and upset No. 16 Claremont, 14-6, at Covina District Stadium.

South Hills (1-0) marched 47 yards in eight plays on its opening drive and got some help from a pass interference call. The Huskies took a 7-0 lead four minutes into the game on a four-yard pass from Philip Guerrero to Jeremy Payton.

Claremont running back Jamaal Floyd made the score 7-6 on a four-yard run with 10:49 left in the first half. Claremont was called for a penalty because it had only nine players on the field for the ensuing PAT attempt. That backed the ball up five yards, and kicker Otis Holt rushed his attempt, curling it low and to the left.

With 3:13 left in the third quarter and trailing 14-6, Claremont had a third and one at the South Hills four. But quarterback Isaiah Cook and running back Lyle Wise muffed the handoff and fumbled the ball away. Claremont reached the South Hills three with eight minutes left, but on a fourth-and-one gimmick play, Cook fumbled a pitch from Floyd and South Hills recovered.

Bryan Payton scored on a 65-yard swing pass from Guerrero on the third play of the second half for South Hills.

Paul McLeod

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Lynwood 17, Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula 17 -- Jaren Duren scored on a 26-yard touchdown run and added the two-point conversion on a run with 1:25 left as Lynwood rallied to tie No. 20 Peninsula (0-0-1) in a nonleague game at Peninsula.

Duren rushed nine times for 64 yards, caught seven passes for 60 yards and intercepted a pass for Lynwood (0-0-1). Ashlee Palmer completed 15 of 23 passes for 159 yards for Lynwood, including a 19-yard touchdown pass to Leilyon Myers.

Erik Pedersen plunged over right tackle on fourth and goal from the one-yard line to give Peninsula a 17-9 lead with 7:12 to play.

Jordan Munde was held to 31 yards in nine carries for the Panthers. Dane Morck scored on a 95-yard kickoff return to pull Peninsula, ranked No. 8 in Division III, within two points at 9-7 before halftime.

Marlin Simmons led the Lynwood defense with 10 tackles and gave the Knights, ranked No. 7 in Division III, a chance to win the game by forcing and recovering a fumble with 42 seconds left at the Panthers’ 44, but Lynwood failed to gain a first down.

Steve Galluzzo

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Covina Charter Oak 35, Alta Loma 0 -- Patrick Fuller rushed for 203 yards and three touchdowns in 26 carries and the Chargers’ defense surrendered only 64 yards in a nonleague win at Charter Oak.

Fuller, a senior, scored on runs of five, two and three yards. His five-yard score gave No. 24 Charter Oak (1-0) a 6-0 lead on its first possession of the game as he carried seven times for 67 yards on the 11-play, 88-yard drive.

Charter Oak quarterback Michael Perri completed 14 of 17 passes for 187 yards and two touchdowns.

Lauren Peterson

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Arroyo Grande 14, Oxnard Hueneme 6 -- Michael Arias rushed for 90 yards in 18 carries as visiting Arroyo Grande (2-0) totaled 241 yards on the ground in this nonleague game.

The Eagles, No. 5 in Division IV, took a 7-0 lead with 5:56 to play in the third quarter when Andy Northness hauled in a 28-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Pollock.

Hueneme (0-1), ranked No. 10 in Division IV, narrowed the deficit to 14-6 with 3:23 to play when Justin Haulcy took a lateral from quarterback Javier Puebla and ran 25 yards for a touchdown.

-- John Ortega