La Sierra Plays Giant-Killer

Sean Sudol passed for three touchdowns and rushed for four more to lead visiting Riverside La Sierra to a 48-21 upset of top-seeded Murrieta Valley on Friday in a Southern Section Division V quarterfinal playoff game at Murrieta Valley.

“I put it on myself to put up as many points as I can. That’s my job,” said Sudol, who completed 16 of 25 passes for 210 yards for La Sierra (10-2), the second-place team from the Ivy League.

Sudol has now passed for 3,417 yards and 44 touchdowns with only five interceptions.

La Sierra had the ball for only three possessions in the first half but scored on each. Sudol gave the Eagles an 8-0 lead on an eight-yard run, but the big play of the 11-play, 67-yard drive was his 32-yard scamper on the second offensive play of the game.

Sudol, who rushed 18 times for 91 yards, proved too slippery all game for Southwestern League champion Murrieta Valley (8-3-1). He consistently escaped tacklers and rolled out to find open receivers, firing seven yards to Travis Garza and 15 to Donte Dunning for touchdowns on the way to a 20-7 halftime lead. He added scoring runs of one, three and 10 yards, as well as a 34-yard scoring pass to Garza in the second half.

La Sierra will play fourth-seeded Norco, a 27-17 winner over Temecula Valley, in a semifinal Friday.

-- Martin Henderson

Placentia Valencia 29, Lakewood Mayfair 7 -- Almost as quickly as Wes Fletcher, Dave Torres and Luis Cruz could run up the yards, top-seeded Lakewood Mayfair was run out of the playoffs.

Fletcher, Torres and Cruz combined for 327 yards rushing as unseeded Placentia Valencia chewed up the Monsoons in a Southern Section Division VI quarterfinal at Buena Park.

Fletcher, a sophomore, gained 180 yards in 31 carries to lead the Tigers (11-1), who posted their fifth consecutive victory and advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 1993. The Monsoons (10-2), whose last loss was to Lakewood, 31-28, on Sept. 16, had their nine-game winning streak ended.

Valencia will face La Palma Kennedy, a 24-7 winner over Hacienda Heights Los Altos, in a semifinal Friday. Kennedy handed the Tigers their only loss, 35-28, on Oct. 21 in Empire League play.

Cruz, Torres and Fletcher scored Valencia’s first three touchdowns to help the Tigers build a 20-7 advantage at intermission. Cruz, a senior quarterback, completed seven of eight passes for 75 yards. He opened the scoring with a 36-yard run on his first carry. He finished with 45 yards in three carries.

Torres, a senior running back, gave Valencia a 14-0 lead with a 25-yard run with 1 minute 37 seconds to play in the first quarter. He finished with 102 yards in 10 carries. After Alterraun Verner gave Mayfair its only touchdown on an 11-yard run with 9:32 to play in the first half, Fletcher’s 13-yard touchdown run gave Valencia its halftime lead.

Ken Cormier scooped up a fumble by Mayfair’s Faron Creighton and returned it 47 yards for the Tigers’ last touchdown with 7:44 left in the third quarter.

-- Lauren Peterson

Newhall Hart 21, Rancho Cucamonga Los Osos 19 -- Sophomore running back Delano Howell rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown in 18 carries for the Indians, who took advantage of two turnovers and three personal fouls by Los Osos in the third quarter to rally from a 12-7 second-quarter deficit at College of the Canyons.

Hart (10-2) took a 21-12 lead in the third quarter on touchdowns by Howell and quarterback Tyler Lyon. Late in the fourth quarter, senior quarterback Mike Anderson orchestrated a 73-yard drive for Los Osos that culminated in a 32-yard scoring pass to Freddy Garcia with 1 minute 47 seconds left. But two missed extra-point attempts in the second quarter by Jared Gross helped deprive the Grizzlies of a chance to tie the score.Lyon overcame a slow first half and connected on 14 of 28 passes for 113 yards, including a 12-yard scoring pass to Robbie Casselberry for a 7-6 lead.

The fourth-seeded Indians will play top-seeded Mission Viejo, a 35-12 winner over Chino, in a semifinal Friday.

Anderson completed 14 of 27 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns, and Mark Chase had 11 carries for 89 yards to lead Los Osos (9-3), which was playing in its first quarterfinal.

-- Austin Knoblauch