LOS ALAMITOS — The Los Alamitos football team arguably faced its toughest opponent of the season on Friday, playing host to a Granite Hills team that is the defending CIF San Diego Section Division 1 champion and a CIF State Division I finalist.
Los Alamitos had to do it the hard way, coming from behind, taking the lead and then holding off the Eagles to earn a 49-42 victory at Los Alamitos High School.
The Griffins (6-0) play one more nonleague game, against Calabasas, before entering play in the Alpha League. In league, they will face Mission Viejo, which was the No. 1-ranked team in Orange County this week, along with No. 9 Edison and No. 14 San Clemente.
“We knew when they played in the state finals last year, they were down big and then they came all the way back,” Los Alamitos coach Ray Fenton said. “We knew that’s what they had in them. They’re extremely talented and they have a great team. They are scary.”
Both teams ran rapid, no-huddle offenses and neither team seemed to be able to slow down their opponent.
Los Alamitos fumbled on its first drive of the game and Granite Hills (3-2) quickly made the Griffins pay for the miscue. Quarterback Zachary Benitez, who guided the Eagles to the CIF San Diego Section title last season, connected with Noah Walker for a 55-yard touchdown on first down.
The Griffins fumbled the ball away a second time in the quarter, this time a second and goal play from the 4.
Los Alamitos evened out the turnover battle, causing two fumbles in the second quarter, the first recovered by Brandon Uruza and the second by Logan Moore.
The Griffins converted both takeaways into touchdowns, the first on a 21-yard touchdown run from quarterback Colin Creason and the second on a 9-yard touchdown run from Kamden Tillis.
“We kept our composure, kept playing, and then we got two turnovers at the end of the second quarter,” Fenton said. It was kind of easing that out.”
Los Alamitos scored four touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 35-21 lead at the half.
While the Griffins were never in a position where they could ease up, they showed the ability to respond every time the Eagles made it close.
When Benitez scored on a 2-yard run to get the Eagles within a touchdown, Los Alamitos made the score 42-28 on Tillis’ 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Benitez connected with D.J. Wilkins for a 6-yard touchdown to make the score 42-35, but the Griffins gave themselves a two-touchdown cushion again with a 3-yard touchdown run by Creason.
Benitez scored on a 1-yard touchdown run with two minutes, 59 seconds left in the game.
The Griffins took over and moved the ball down the field, forcing the Eagles to use their all of their timeouts.
“This team is just a team that has heart and is dedicated to everything they do,” Tillis said of the Eagles. “I know they put in the work. I know they watched film on us. They saw some flaws that we had. We did the hard work at practice; we watched film and just did all that we had to do and executed it on the field.”
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