Los Alamitos got four touchdowns from
Damian Henderson Friday to down No. 22
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach) 52-42 in a California Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal. The Griffins are going to need to duplicate that effort if they want to upend national No. 1 Mater Dei in the Nov. 18 semifinals.
In order to get to Mater Dei, the Griffins first had to get past Jackrabbits on Friday and it was pedal to the metal from the onset as Henderson, a Colorado State commit, scored twice in each half to power past the winningest team in state history.
The first-half action was fast and furious as the teams traded punches with a pace that left the scoreboard operator winded.
Long Beach Poly opened the scoring after a
Ikenasio Mikaele run set up the Jackrabbits deep in Los Al territory. A few plays later,
Darius Curry hit
Jadyn Robinson on a 4-yard fade to the back of the end zone and Poly went up 7-0 three minutes into the game.
Los Al answered as Henderson powered in from four yards out less than a minute later to cut the lead to 7-6. Poly had instant offense as
Kamarie Smith returned a short kick 75 yards for a Jackrabbits' TD and 14-6 lead less than halfway through the first quarter.
Damian Henderson had a monster night for Los Alamitos with four touchdowns as the Griffins beat No. 22 Long Beach Poly 52-42 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals. Los Al now gets national No. 1 Mater Dei in the semifinals. (Photo: Antoine Belot)
Then Los Alamitos scored three straight times on a 9-yard
Malachi Nelson-to-
Makai Lemon pass, a 4-yard
Sinn Brennan TD plunge and a 33-yard scamper from Robinson to bump the Griffins' lead to 27-14 just inside the second quarter.
But the Jackrabbits answered with a 40-yard scoring strike from Curry to
Luke Buggs less than a minute later to cut the edge to six. The answer from Los Alamitos culminated in a 16-yard pass from Nelson to Lemon, the second connection of the night for the duo to make it 33-21 midway through the period as the Griffins scored on five straight possessions.
Robinson capped the wild first-half with an 81-yard touchdown on a short crossing route from Curry and Los Al took a 33-28 lead into the locker room.
Henderson got things going in the second half with a 45-yard score off right tackle on fourth-and-one for his third TD of the night to bump the lead to 39-28.
Sophomore
Anthony League gave Los Al some breathing room early in the fourth quarter with a 44-yard TD run to put the lead at 45-28 with 10 minutes to play.
Curry added a TD pass to
Jordan Malau’ulu with eight minutes left to make it a 10-point game. Henderson bumped the lead to 17 with his fourth score as Poly added a late TD to make the final margin 10.
