Los Alamitos 21 - Eagles 14
FULLERTON, CA., September 15, 2000 – The Eagles' bid for a second comeback victory in as many weeks ended at the 12 yard line as time ran out allowing the Los Alamitos Griffins to hold on and beat the Eagles 21-14 before 5,000 fans and a Fox Sports Net 2 national television audience at Cal State Fullerton. The loss dropped the Eagles to 1-1 while the Griffins improved to 2-0. As was the case in Week 1, the Eagles wasted opportunities in the first half and found themselves seemingly out of the game down 21-0 near the end of the third quarter. Throughout the first three quarters the Eagles were befuddled by the running of 5'8" RB Adam Nauta, who broke tackle after tackle on route to 156 yards on 21 carries including three Tds. The Eagles were also victimized by dropped passes, missed tackles and other missed opportunities. In the first half, the Eagles best scoring chance came on their opening two drives. On the first one, they went 75 yards on 13 plays before stalling on the Griffin five. A 21-yard field goal attempt was thwarted when an errant snap forced holder Kyle Rutenbar to heave a pass that was intercepted at the six. After Johnnie Walker returned the Griffins' ensuing punt 28 yards to the Los Al 35, the Eagles couldn't sustain their momentum from their previous drive and were forced to punt. Early in the second quarter, the misfortune continued. A Matt Dlugolecki pass was tipped into the hands of Los Al's Steve Shinen at midfield who returned it to the Eagle four setting up a three-yard Td run by Nauta. A 47-yard yard Td run by Nauta through the Eagle defense on the Griffins next series put them up 14-0 at the half. In the third quarter, Nauta capped an 83-yard drive with an impressive 21-yard scamper to give the Griffins a 21-0 lead. However, from there the Eagles controlled the game and almost pulled off the upset.
Tyler Thompson (20 carries for 124 yards, five tackles) and Ashton White (18 carries for a career-high 83 yards) led the Eagles on a 12-play, 77-yard drive capped by Thompson's 27-yard Td run with 0:07 left in the quarter to close the gap to 21-7. On the drive White gained 28 yards and converted on two critical third down conversion runs and Thompson gained 44. On the Griffins next possession, a bad snap over the punter's head was recovered by Tyler Thompson in the Griffin endzone to close the gap to 21-14. After forcing a Griffin punt, the Eagles took over at their own 21 with 5:18 left. Moving methodically down the field, the Eagles went on a 19-play drive highlighted by three key third down conversions and a critical 17-yard completion from Dlugolecki to Cole Devitis on 4th and 10 from the Griffin 29 to give the Eagles a first down at the 12 with 25 seconds left. A spike on first down left 18 seconds on the clock. On second down, Dlugolecki found Rutenbar wide open on a seem route at the goalline, but the junior wideout couldn't hang on setting up third down with 12 ticks left. Hoping to make something happen Dlugolecki, (9 of 26 passing with eight drops), hit Devitis in the flat but he was gang tackled in bounds and, without timeouts, the Eagles could only watch as the remaining few seconds elapsed. Defensively, despite the missed tackles, the Eagles limited the Griffins to 242 total yards and only five completions in 10 attempts. Linebacker Matt Vogel led the Eagles with 13 tackles while sophomore DT Chris Cutler added six tackles and a sack.
| Los Alamitos | 7 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Santa Margarita | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
LOS – Nauta 4 run (kick good)
LOS – Nauta 47 run (kick good)
LOS – Nauta 21 run (kick good)
SM – Thompson 21 run (kick good)
SM – Thompson fumble recovery in endzone (kick good)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing: LOS - Nauta 21-153; SM - Thompson 20-124, White 18-83
Passing: –
Receiving: –
By Adrian Peters
Sports Information Director
LOS AL SURVIVES
The Griffins maintain their 10-year unbeaten streak against nonleague foes by holding off Santa Margarita, 21-14
FULLERTON – Los Alamitos' 10-year streak was in peril.
But the Griffins held on to beat Santa Margarita, 21-14, Friday night at Cal State Fullerton.
The last time Los Alamitos lost a nonleague regular-season game was 1990, when the Griffins lost to St. John Bosco of Bellflower.
The final score was 22-21 -- which Friday's score would have been had Santa Margarita scored a touchdown on its final drive and tacked on a two-point conversion.
"Wouldn't that have been something," Los Alamitos coach John Barnes said, "if that happened again?"
It did not, but Santa Margarita sure tried.
The Eagles started their last possession on their 20-yard line with 5:18 to go. They slowly maneuvered dowfield and seemed about to stall when faced with a fourth-and-10 at Los Alamitos' 29 with 35 seconds remaining. Santa Margarita's UCLA-bound quarterback Matt Dlugolecki connected with Cole DeVitis on a 17-yard completion to move the Eagles to the 12.
After Dlugolecki spiked the ball to stop the clock with 22 seconds showing, he drilled the ball to a wide-open Kyle Rutenbar at the 3. Rutenbar could not hold on. On the Eagles' next and final play, Dlugolecki threw a short sideline pass to Cooper, who was gang-tackled and the last seconds ticked away.
Santa Margarita rallied last week to overcome a 17-0, third-quarter deficit to beat Ayala of Chino Hills.
"They came back to beat Ayala," Barnes said, "so they were in that mind set. But it was great for us to hold them off."
Los Alamitos had a 21-0 lead in the third quarter, having scored on touchdown runs of 4, 48 and 21 yards by Adam Nauta.
A 28-yard touchdown run by Tyler Thompson with seven seconds left in the quarter gave the Eagles their first points.
Early in the fourth quarter, Los Alamitos' Steve Shinen was back near his own goal line to punt. The snap went over his head, Shinen retrieved the ball in the end zone and was hit.
The fumble was recovered by Thompson to make it 21-14 with 10:25 remaining.
Nauta rushed for 153 yards on 21 carries before limping off early in the fourth quarter (the nature and extent of his injury was unknown after the game).
Thompson rushed for 122 yards on 19 carries, and teammate Ashton White carried 17 times for 80 yards.
By Steve Fryer
Saturday, September 16, 2000
The Orange County Register - D12
