La Mirada rolls past Santa Ana, 44-3
LA MIRADA JT Torres scored two touchdowns and Daniel Poncedeleon threw two touchdown passes to lead La Mirada to a 44-3 victory over Santa Ana in the first round of the CIF-SS Southern Division playoffs Friday night at La Mirada High.
The Matadores (10-1), the Suburban League champions, advance to next week’s second round and will play Santiago.
Santa Ana finished with a 7-4 record.
After a long Santa Ana drive stalled at the Matadores 5-yard line, Luis Diaz kicked a 22-yard field goal to give the Saints a 3-0 lead early in the second quarter. Two long passes from Bobby Peralta to Mario Martinez set up the Santa Ana field goal.
La Mirada countered immediately as Aaryn Bouzos returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. Later in the quarter, Torres capped a 95-yard scoring drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. Julian Matta added a 39-yard field goal to give La Mirada a 17-3 halftime lead.
The Matadores scored four TDs in the second half, including Poncedeleon’s two TD passes — one each to Matta and Zach Martin — and short TD runs by Torres and Zach Rush.
The Saints running attack, averaging 224 yards per game, was limited to 80 yards. Peralta, subbing for injured Santa Ana QB Chris Avila, completed only 2 of 11 passes.
“I’m proud of the way we played in the first half,” said Saints coach Scott Daniels. “We controlled the ball, but in the second half we had too many three-and-outs and then we ran out of gas.”
La Mirada has appeared in the CIF playoffs 30 straight years and is currently tied with Long Beach Poly for most consecutive playoffs appearances in the state.
