Orange Lutheran lets victory slip away against LB Poly

CARSON - Orange Lutheran found itself inches away from the end zone on two occasions.

Once in the first half and once in the closing seconds of the game.

Both times the fourth-seeded Lancers were unable to punch it in for a score and top-seeded Long Beach Poly escaped with a hard-earned 2-0 victory in the semifinals of the CIF-SS Pac-5 semifinals on Friday night at Home Depot Center.

The Lancers drove from their 32-yard line to the Jackrabbits' 1 with 22 seconds left. They did it with sophomore Bobby Wheatley at quarterback after starter Blake Hyepock went down because of an injured right ankle with 10:13 left in the first half.

Long Beach Poly got called for an offsides penalty that moved the ball inches away from the end zone. Then there were three consecutive timeouts, including two the Jackrabbits coach Raul Lara who wanted to make sure he had the right defensive unit in to make the stop. The Jackrabbits had stopped Orange Lutheran on four consecutive plays from the 1-yard line in the closing minutes of the first half.

The Lancers were well within field-goal range for James Rammelsberg, so even if they couldn't score this time they would have plenty of time to set up for the potential winning kick.

Wheatley spun to hand off to running back Ricky Pemasa, but fullback Jeremiah Pemasa got in the middle of the exchange. The ball squirted free and Jackrabbits defensive back Herman Davidson pounced on it to save the day for Long Beach Poly.

"I couldn't do it without my teammates," Davidson said. "I stayed with my assignment and saw the ball pop out. I just wanted to be the first one over there."

All Long Beach Poly quarterback Morgan Fennell had to do was drop to a knee twice, run out the clock and the celebration was on for the Long beach Poly faithful, who left Home Depot Center dejected after a 23-22 loss to the Lancers in last year's semifinal.

Long Beach Poly (12-1) advances to the championship game where it will meet Crespi of Encino on Friday night at at Home Depot Center. Orange Lutheran, the defending Pac-5 and Division II state champion, finished the season 10-2.

A disastrous first possession by Orange Lutheran was the only thing that separated the Lancers from Long Beach Poly in the game.

Orange Lutheran had a false-start penalty, two incomplete passes and a 3-yard pass completion on its first three plays from scrimmage to bring up a punting situation. The ball was snapped over Rammelsberg's head into the end zone. With the Long Beach Poly defense bearing down on him, Rammelsberg made the smart play and ran the ball out the back of the end zone for a safety.

That gave Long Beach Poly a 2-0 lead, and that was all the scoring for both teams.

The Jackrabbits came up with a huge defensive stand to keep the Lancers out of the end zone late in the first half. The Lancers had a first-and-goal at the Jackrabbits' 1 with a little over 2 minutes remaining. With fullback Tyson Seneca and running back Ricky Pemasa in the backfield, 1 yard usually isn't a problem.

Seneca took the first try and got hammered at the line 6 inches from the end zone. Wheatley tried a quarterback keeper and got stopped short. The Lancers went to Seneca again, and again the Jackrabbits held the line. Lancers coach Jim Kunau decided to go for it on fourth down. Seneca got the nod and got a good head of steam, but Jerimiah Vigil wrapped him up and slammed him to the turf inches from the goal line.

With Hyepock on the sidelines with crutches and a boot on his right foot, Wheatley did his best to get things going for the Lancers on their opening drive of the second half. Wheatley was 5 of 8 on the drive, leading the way from Orange Lutheran's 30 before the drive stalled at Long Beach Poly's 29.

That gave Rammelsberg an opportunity at a 46-yard field goal. Rammelsberg's kick had plenty of leg, but missed wide left.

Pemasa finished the game with 88 yards on 13 carries, and Seneca had 24 yards on 14 carries. Wheatley was 9 of 17 for 72 yards and one interception. Hyepock was 1 of 5 for 3 yards before he exited the game.

Melvin Richardson had 12 carries for 97 yards to lead Long Beach Poly's offense.

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com