HUNTINGTON BEACH – Brethren Christian’s season came to a screeching halt in a CIF-SS East Valley Division second-round playoff game Friday night at Ocean View High, where they were routed by Grace Brethren, 49-21.
The two-headed running attack of Andre Bannister and Zikel Reddick was too much to overcome for the Warriors, who were worn down by the physical Lancers.
Bannister ran for 243 yards and four touchdowns and Reddick rushed for 121 yards and a pair of scores. Overall, the Lancers rushed for 365 yards.
The two teams met in Week 3 and Grace Brethren was victorious in that contest, 27-14.
Conner Miller orchestrated an opening scoring drive after the Warrior defense forced a turnover on Grace Brethren’s first play from scrimmage. Brethren Christian used the decent field position to score when Miller threw a short screen pass to Andrew Assaf and turned it into a 20-yard touchdown catch.
Grace Brethren responded in quick fashion by recovering an onside kick that gave them a short field. The key play on that drive was a 48-yard reception by Caleb Funk that put the ball at the one-yard line. Quarterback Matt Woodard would sneak it in on the next play to tie the score, 7-7.
The Lancers were able to take control of the game in the second quarter, capitalizing on penalties and mistakes by Brethren Christian.
After forcing a Warriors punt, Grace Brethren started with the ball at the 33-yard line thanks to a Brethren Christian penalty. Reddick would cap that short drive by punching it in from the 1 for a 14-7 lead.
Grace Brethren executed a successful onside kick on the next play and Reddick scored again, this time on a 10-yard score.
The Warriors fought their way back on their next possession when a scrambling Miller found Nathan Sagastume in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD reception.
But Grace Brethren answered once again with another fast touchdown drive when Bannister scored on a seven-yard run with 36 seconds left in the half to make it 28-14.
The Lancers and Warriors traded scores in the final frame.
Miller finished the game with 356 passing yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 111 yards and a score. Miller finishes the season with 47 touchdown passes, which is second all-time in county history. Rancho Alamitos’ Nick Brown, who has 49 TD passes this season, is the record holder. The county record coming into this season was 41 TD passes in a season, which was done twice by El Toro’s Conner Manning.
Warriors receiver Guy Demazeliere caught a TD pass, giving him 40 for his career and sole possession of the county record. He moved ahead of Jeremy Childs, who had 39 for Los Alamitos (2002-04).
