South wins O.C. All-Star Game with wild ending

COSTA MESA - Trent Mason found redemption in dramatic fashion late in Friday’s 52nd Brea Lions Orange County All-Star Football Game at Orange Coast College.

The Dana Hills safety bound for South Dakota State made the turnaround in consecutive plays and helped the South capture the summer classic, 23-22, for a third consecutive victory in the series.

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Mason helped the South withstand a furious second-half surge by the North by soaring to block a potential winning 29-yard field goal by Servite’s Connor Loftus with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter.

On third down, Mason made the stadium gasp by dropping a seemingly routine interception near his own 5-yard line with 2:31 left.

But in one play, Mason changed the entire game.

“Oh, my God,” he said. “I was walking home if I didn’t get that block. I wasn’t letting that kick get off. I can’t believe I dropped that (interception) still but we hey, got the W, so it’s all good.”

Mason, voted the defensive player of the game, rushed Loftus off the left edge and dove in front of the strong-legged kicker for the deflection.

“I had to lay out and do my thing,” he said.

On the previous play, Mason almost intercepted a pass from quarterback Mike Markovsky of Orange Lutheran, who scrambled from the South 12 but threw across his body toward the end zone.

“You always catch it with your hands,” Mason said. “For some reason, I try to body it. Your whole life you’re taught not to body it. I try to body it and it bounces right off my shoulder pads. I couldn’t believe it. ... He (Markovsky) rolled out. I saw him come back the whole way. I saw his eyes. I was set up perfectly (for the intereception and I missed it."

South coach Myron Miller of Tustin thought Mason showed character with how he responded to the drop.

"That's the way to come back," Miller told Mason. "That showed me a lot. You feel real bad dropping the ball and then come back and save the game for us. ... Tough kid."

After the block, the North defense forced a quick punt. The North got the ball back with 1:15 left on its 41 and had no timeouts. The South defense didn’t allow a first down to clinch the victory.

The North led, 22-17, going into the fourth quarter but the South grabbed the momentum back with a 14-play, 84-yard scoring drive that San Clemente running back Terrell Johnson capped with a 1-yard touchdown run with 6:23 left.

Johnson finished with 143 yards on 26 carries en route to being selected the offensive player of the game. His 26 carries tied the all-star game record of Derek Brown of Servite in 1989.

"He came out to practice every day and worked harder than anyone else," Mason said of Johnson. "He's was really getting after it."

The South led, 17-7, at halftime but the North heated up the third quarter. Running back Nick Richardson of Los Alamitos scored on a 6-yard touchdown run on the North’s first possession of the third.

Villa Park defensive back Kapena Olsen then returned an interception 25 yards for a score with 2:00 left in the third. Markovsky tossed a pass to Sonora’s Lukas McCarthy for the 2-point conversion to give the North a 22-17 lead.

The North led after trailing, 17-0, in the first half.

"You'd never expect everyone to be playing this hard in an all-star game," Mason said. "We were on the sideline yelling, screaming and going crazy. That was one of the better game games I've ever played (in)."

The South capitalized on two North fumbles in the first quarter to open a 10-0 lead.

South linebacker Colten Christensen of Santa Margarita recovered a fumble on the North 10 on the second play from scrimmage. South kicker and Trabuco Hills graduate Oleg Parent turned the turnover into a 20-yard field goal 2:06 later.

The South also forced a fumble on the next North possession. South linebacker Nolan Muchow of Tesoro recovered a fumble on North’s 33 on the third play of the drive. Johnson scored five plays later on a 2-yard run. Parent’s extra-point made it 10-0 with 5:43 left in the opening quarter.

An unsportsmanlike penalty hurt the North’s next drive. The South then drove 59 yards on 10 plays to score again for a 17-0 lead. Santa Margarita first-team All-County quarterback Adam Young found a wide receiver Kellon Truxton of Newport Harbor for a 15-yard touchdown three minutes into the second quarter.

Quarterback Anthony Martinez of Fullerton sparked the North on the ensuing possession. Martinez drove the North on an 11-play, 85-yard scoring drive that he capped with a 1-yard run with 3:48 left in the first half.

The key play on the five-minute drive was a 40-yard pass from Martinez to Loara wide receiver Howard Gauta, who made a leaping catch over a cornerback to move the ball to the South 5.

Martinez completed his first five passes for 79 yards.

After Loftus converted the extra point, the North invoked the all-star game’s rule that allows teams trailing by 10 or more to kick off or receive after a score. The South defense had spent 5:12 on the field but still produced a stop.

The North outgained the South in the game, 284-245. The South rushed for 181 yards while the North passed for 242.