It's not easy, but Tesoro knocks out Los Alamitos

LAS FLORES- It was a bittersweet night for Tesoro coach Brian Barnes, but he’s not going trade it.

Brian Barnes had to lead his Tesoro Titans into Friday night’s CIF-SS Pac-5 first round game against Los Alamitos and his father, John.

Thanks to his defensive unit that intercepted Los Alamitos quarterback Clark Evans three times and sacked him five times, the younger Barnes got the best of dad, with a 23-7 victory. (Full game stats.)

The Titans will host Mater Dei in the second round Friday. The Monarchs defeated Long Beach Jordan, 35-15 in another first-round game.

This will be the second consecutive season that the Titans and the Monarchs will have faced each other in the playoffs. Mater Dei won last year’s meeting, 31-17.

The Griffins, who finished in a five-way tie for first place in the Sunset League, ended the season at 8-3.

“All week it was Barnes against Barnes,” Brian Barnes said. “I’ve tried to tell the kids that it was Tesoro against Los Al. Tonight, when we stepped on the field for warm-ups, it got back to just being about football.

“It was a lot of hype and I enjoyed it. It was great for our school and community and I’m glad we came out on top.”

The momentum started to swing into Tesoro’s direction when Los Alamitos running back Cody Perez fumbled at the Titans' 5-yard line. The ball was recovered by John Michael Davis at the 2. Perez appeared to have been stopped on the play, but the officials ruled otherwise.

“We didn’t struggle getting it (the ball) down there (in scoring position,” Los Alamitos coach John Barnes said. “We just struggled getting it (the ball) in there (the end zone).

“That fumble on the goal-line where it looked like the play was stopped … that has been the story of our three losses. In our three losses (Fountain Valley, Newport Harbor and Tesoro) funky things have happened. Tough game, though. Our defense played well, but we just didn’t make enough plays.”

The Titans wasted little time converting that turnover into a touchdown, even if it took an extra effort by fullback Isaac Tago. Adam Albitar took the handoff on a second-and-goal from the 6, but fumbled at the 1, the ball went into the end zone where it was recovered by Tago to give the Titans a 16-7 lead.

The Griffins’ first two drives in the fourth quarter ended with kicker Daniel Boyer having his second field-goal attempt blocked by Jake Warden and on an incomplete pass in the end zone with 3:37 to go.

Preston King put the finishing touches on the game when he intercepted an Evans pass and went 20 yards for the touchdown.

King also had 88 receiving yards and a touchdown. Davis and Brett Gudim also had interceptions for the Titans.

“They (our defense) came through tonight,” Brian Barnes said. “Clark Evans is a heck of a quarterback, and Los Al is a heck of football team and Preston (King) sealed it in the end. … No complaints here.”

Tesoro also recorded its first playoff victory at the Pac-5 Division level. The Titans had won two consecutive titles in Division IX before moving up to the Pac-5 level.

“It was a great win, and it feels good to finally get our first playoff win up in Division I (Pac-5),” Tesoro quarterback Robbie Picazo said. “That’s really special and especially against a team like that (Los Alamitos).”

• Click here for full game stats and links to season totals and team rosters.   

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com