Regular season ends with special moment
Football notes: Two teams put class first to give a player a shot at the spotlight.
There are certain times when the game is about more than victories or losses.
Late in the fourth quarter of last week's Aliso Niguel-Tesoro game was one of the moments.
Tesoro led 49-0 heading into the fourth quarter. With 10:15 left in the game, Aliso Niguel coach Jeff Veeder inserted senior Matt Morris into the game.
Morris took the handoff from quarterback Joseph Galosic and went 86 yards for a touchdown.
Morris, a senior, has cerebral palsy.
"Watching Morris getting a score was awesome," Tesoro coach Brian Barnes said. "That's why we coach the game. It brought tears to my eyes."
Barnes said he received an e-mail from Aliso Niguel offensive coordinator Garrett Gray, detailing the situation, and asking if Tesoro would agree to let Morris play on the first play of the game.
Barnes agreed. And when he told his team, they thought that they should let Morris score.
"What's seven points in the whole scheme of things?" Barnes said. "These are memories that kids will take with them for the rest of their lives."
Class move.
•The month of November will be busy for La Habra running back Joshua Quezada.
Quezada kicked things off with a 268-yard, five-touchdown performance Friday night against Fullerton as the Highlanders clinched their third consecutive Freeway League title.
Quezada then hit the recruiting trail, taking a visit to Hawaii. Next weekend, he's scheduled to go to Utah, followed by Fresno State the week after.
Quezada said that he wants to graduate early and be able to participate in spring practice.
•Quezada and Highlanders are the defending Southwest Division champions.
La Habra will begin its defense Friday against Kennedy, the division's at-large team.
"I think this is a great division," La Habra coach Frank Mazzotta said. "Obviously, CIF thinks so too, because we're playing at Angel Stadium for our final.
"There is some good football played in this division."
Last season, La Habra had to defeat three league champions (El Dorado, Trabuco Hills and Tustin) to win the title.
Can this year's journey be even more difficult?
"It still looks as tough to me," Mazzotta said. "There are some good teams."
•All of the first-round games Friday in the Southwest Division will begin at 7 p.m., except for the El Toro-Villa Park game, which will be played at Saddleback College at 7:30 p.m.
In the Pac-5 Division, Edison will play host to Long Beach Millikan at Orange Coast College.
The Newport Harbor-Lakewood and Long Beach Poly-Los Alamitos games will both begin at 7 p.m.
In the Southern Division, Santiago will play host to Costa Mesa at Bolsa Grande High. Rancho Alamitos' road game against Norwalk will be played at Excelsior Adult School.
You can find all location updates at ocvarsity.com.
•The Mater Dei-Bishop Amat of La Puente Pac-5 first round game is the Fox Sports West game of the week. The game will be aired on a taped-delayed basis at 10:30 p.m. on Prime Ticket.
•Here is my ballot in this week's football poll: 1. Edison; 2. Mission Viejo; 3. Servite; 4. Dana Hills; 5. Los Alamitos; 6. Fountain Valley; 7. La Habra; 8. Orange Lutheran; 9. Mater Dei; 10. Tustin.
