Los Alamitos Comes Up Big in the Fourth Quarter to Beat Corona del Mar (2022)

Newport Beach – Davidson Field

Newport Beach – A crucial moment came for the Los Alamitos football team as star quarterback Malachi Nelson was laying on the turf in pain, having hurt what appeared to be his hamstring while coming down awkwardly after avoiding a defender.

Clinging to a seven-point lead late in the third and facing a formidable opponent, the Griffins needed someone to come up big for them offensively. Fortunately for them, Damian Henderson was more than capable of rising to the task.

Henderson rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns in Los Alamitos’ 49-14 win over Corona Del Mar on Thursday at Davidson Field.

After the game, Griffins coach Ray Fenton said that Nelson is alright he should be good to go for next week. Makai Lemon, the Griffins star wide receiver, also didn’t play following the first due to an undisclosed injury, but like Nelson, he should be available for next week.

“Damian’s good, our running back is outstanding, but the boys up front, rooting it out. We started taking a little bit of different angles on it and let our guys get the hands on and do what they’re supposed to do,” Griffins coach Ray Fenton said.

Los Alamitos’ first drive appeared to be a promising one, as it worked the ball methodically with Nelson’s well-timed decisions. But on a carry to Henderson, Mason Kubichek forced a fumble and Kaulin Post.

The forced fumble was short-lived, as the Sea Kings went three and out. On the next drive, the Griffins mad the most of it, as Henderson ran the ball on a fourth and one play getting the first down and the touchdown on the carry.

After forcing CdM to go three and out, Los Alamitos found itself in the redzone, only to see Nelson’s pass picked off by Kaulin Post. Much like the first forced turnover from the Sea Kings, it was short-lived as the Griffins forced them to go three and out.

This time, Nelson made the most of the possession as he kept the chains moving with some timely first down throws, rushes and handoffs to Henderson. Eventually, Nelson found Gavin Porch on a 2-yard jumpball pass in the endzone.

Following the kickoff late in the first quarter, the Sea Kings had not picked up a first down, until David Rasor found Cooper Hoch and Russell Weir on the last two plays of the quarter, which eventually put them into Los Alamitos territory. Five plays later, Rasor found Scott Giuliano on a rollout for a four-yard touchdown.

The next four drives from both teams combined were punts, but on the fifth drive, when Los Alamitos had it, they got it together. It only took them four plays to score a touchdown as the Griffins’ run game, managed by Henderson, plowed their way through, eventually finishing off the drive with a one-yard plunging rushing touchdown from Henderson.

“I feel like the D-Line did the work today. I feel like we’ve been having problems in practice, but we got all together before the game and just do what we do,” Brennan said.
CdM kept its drive going with some well-timed throws from Rasor, but on the fourth play, Sinn Brennan knocked the ball out and T.A. Cunningham recovered it. The Griffins got to the Sea King 21 only to suffer an 18-yard loss on the play due to a sack from Ryan Nielsen, which led to a missed field goal before halftime.

The Sea Kings’ defense made sure to prevent the Griffins from scoring in the third quarter. While the defense did its part, the offense finally was able to rise to the occasion, as Rasor hit Hoch for a 45-yard touchdown pass which got the Sea King faithful out of its seats.

On the second play of Los Alamitos’ drive, the injury to Nelson occurred, but O’Neal and Henderson made sure to keep the offense on the field. On the first play of the fourth quarter, on fourth down, Henderson rumbled his way in for the score to put the Griffins up 28-14.

“They couldn’t stop the run. We had a couple of injuries that messed us up, but we bounced back, we fixed a lot of things and got the job done,” Henderson said.
Following that touchdown, the game started slipping further away from CdM, as their next drive resulted in a fumble, which was eventually recovered by the Griffins’ defense. Eventually it was capped off by Henderson’s fourth touchdown of the night, having scored from three yards out.

The flurry didn’t stop there, as Gavin Porch picked off a pass and returned it for a pick six. Eventually, the Sea Kings’ offense just couldn’t rebound following the two turnovers.
Los Alamitos (5-2, 2-0) returns to action next Thursday against Edison at Huntington Beach High School at 7 p.m. For CdM (5-2, 1-1), it returns to action next Friday at Huntington Beach at 7 p.m.