Pacifica beats Loara, clinches playoff spot

GARDEN GROVE- Pacifica has showed great signs of resiliency this season.

The Mariners started the season by losing three of their first four games. They lost starting quarterback Raymond Huizar because of an elbow injury and opened the Empire League season with a loss.

Through all of that adversity, Pacifica (5-4, 3-1) was able to clinch a playoff spot in the upcoming CIF-SS Southwest Division playoffs with a 35-21 Empire League home victory Thursday over Loara (5-4, 1-3) at Bolsa Grande High.

The Mariners are tied for second with Valencia, which defeated Kennedy, 31-12. (Full game stats.)

Josh Brannon had another big night for the Mariners. The senior running back rushed for 234 yards on 18 carries and scored four touchdowns.

He is averaging 229 yards in four league games.

“The (offensive) line has been playing great,” Brannon said. “They’re doing their job.”

Brannon opened his scoring books early in the first quarter after the Mariners recovered a botched kickoff return at the 11.

Brannon also scored on runs of 55, 2 and 60 yards. His 60-yard run came with 11:44 remaining in the third quarter and gave the Mariners a 35-7 lead.

That is when things started to get interesting.

Loara scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns on a pair of touchdown passes from Marcus Meraz to Howard Gauta. The first one covered 19 yards with 9:26 remaining and the second pass came with 3:21 left and it went for 30 yards and cut the score to 35-21.

Loara recovered the onside kick on the Pacifica 47, but any hopes of a comeback were ended when Clay Leonard intercepted a Meraz pass on the next play.

“We were fortunate obviously early in the game with the fumble,” Pacifica coach Guy Gardner said. “We did some good things, but not always. … A lot of that had to do with Loara. They played hard. They definitely made it interesting for us.”

Pacifica will play host to Cypress next Friday in the final game of the regular season. Cypress has clinched a share of the league title.

Pacifica and Cypress split two meetings last year, with the Centurions winning in the CIF-SS Southwest Division final, 36-30.

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

Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com