Los Alamitos Fails to Qualify for Playoffs as Oilers Prove Too Slick to Handle

Los Alamitos' fooball team was in a must-win situation against Huntington Beach on Friday at Long Beach Veteran Stadium. And the Griffins started the game as if they were determined to keep their playoff hopes alive.

They took the early lead and held it into halftime. But the second half was all Huntington Beach as the Oilers rolled to a 58-28 Sunset League victory that ended the Griffins' hopes for one of the Sunset League's three automatic bids to the CIF Southern Section Pac-5 Division playoffs, which begin in two weeks.

Los Alamitos' eight-play game-opening drive culminated with quarterback Dylan Lagarde's 26-yard touchdown run, and the Griffins extended their lead to 13-0 courtesy a 55-yard Lagarde to Derrick Worthy touchdown pass with 1:09 left in the first quarter.

Los Alamitos (5-4 overall, 1-3 in league) led, 16-13, at halftime and extended that lead after holding the Oilers to three plays and a punt on their opening possession of the second half. Senior Cody Paul then broke off a 42-yard touchdown run on the Griffins’ first play of the second half. The extra point attempt failed, but the Griffins led 22-13.

However, Huntington Beach answered right back, driving 85 yards on the ensuing possession to close the gap to 22-20 on quarterback Michael Chislock's seven-yard touchdown run. The Oilers' kickoff was a pooch kick that fell into an open spot on the field and was recovered by Huntington Beach at the Los Alamitos 39-yard line.

A few plays later, a 15-yard pass from Chislock to Austin Simpkins ended with a horse collar tackle that put the Oilers at the Griffins' 10-yard line. On the next play, Chislock hit senior Ramon Vargas over the middle for a touchdown that gave the Oilers a 27-22 lead that they would not relinquish. From there, the Oilers' offense began to roll and every mistake the Griffins made was pounced on by Huntington Beach.

“We’ve been a mistake-prone team all year and it showed tonight,” Griffins coach John Barnes said.

Late in the third quarter, the Oilers were able to down a punt at the Griffins one-yard line. On the next play, Oiler safety Zach Hadlock jumped an out-route pass for an interception and returned in 10 yards down the sideline for a touchdown that gave Huntington Beach a 34-22 lead.

Late in the third quarter, Paul broke off another long touchdown run, this one from 57 yards, that cut the Oilers' lead to 34-28, but the Griffins could not keep pace with the Oilers.

Early in the fourth quarter, after Huntington Beach added a field goal to extend its lead to 37-28, the Oilers would get a second defensive score, this time on a 15-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Vargas to make it 44-28.

Huntington Beach (7-2, 3-1) wrapped up a playoff berth in its second year back in the Sunset League. They reached the playoffs out of the Sea View League in 2009, but haven’t been to the Pac-5 playoffs since a third-place finish in the Sunset League in 2005.

The Griffins will see their season come to an end after Thursday’s league game against Marina (1-7-1, 0-4) at Westminster High at 7 p.m. The Oilers finish their regular season against Fountain Valley (4-5, 1-3) the same night.