Mission Viejo football beats Los Alamitos to finish regular season 10-0
MISSION VIEJO – Mission Viejo’s football team is 10-0, and now wonders what’s next.
The Diablos beat Los Alamitos 40-14 on Friday in an Alpha League game at Mission Viejo High in the final regular-season game for both teams.
Mission Viejo went 3-0 in the four-team Alpha League.
Los Alamitos’ Lenny Ibarra (28) tackles Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Phillip Bell (1) as he runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s defensive lineman Carter Wegis (90) tackles Los Alamitos’ running back Jerod Terry Jr. (1) as he runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos’ quarterback Alonzo Esparza (12) passes the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos’ center back Jackson Bennett (24), center, tackles Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Phillip Bell (1) as he runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos’ running back Jerod Terry Jr. (1) runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s running back Hinesward Lilomaiava (5) runs the ball as Los Alamitos’ defensive end Logan Moore (81) tackles him during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo safety Cash Perry (32) celebrates after recovering the fumble punt return during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Phillip Bell (1) runs out of bounds as Los Alamitos’ linebacker Johnny Howze (44) tackles him during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s quarterback Luke Fahey (3) runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos’ center back Jackson Bennett (24) tackles Mission Viejo’s quarterback Luke Fahey (3) as he runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s student section cheers during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Cash Semonza (11) celebrates his touchdown during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Cash Semonza (11) runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo’s running back MJ Anderson (29) runs onto the field before a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Los Alamitos’ defensive end Jackson Renger (15) misses the tackle as Mission Viejo’s running back Hinesward Lilomaiava (5) runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
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Los Alamitos’ Lenny Ibarra (28) tackles Mission Viejo’s wide receiver Phillip Bell (1) as he runs the ball during a football game at Mission Viejo High School in Mission Viejo on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. (Photo by Rebecca Villagracia, Contributing Photographer)
Mission Viejo coach Chad Johnson anticipates that his team will be in Division 1 of the CIF Southern Section playoffs and will have a bye next week before playing in the first round in two weeks. He figures that the Diablos will play Corona Centennial, champion of the Big VIII League, either at Centennial or at Mission Viejo.
“You would think that a 10-0 team would get a home game,” Johnson said. “But it is what it is. If we’re on the road against Centennial, let’s go.”
Los Alamitos is 5-5 overall and went 1-2 in league, as did Edison and San Clemente. (San Clemente defeated Edison 21-17 on Friday.) Edison won a three-way coin toss to be the league’s No. 2 team and earned a guaranteed playoff berth. The Nos. 3 and 4 teams can qualify as at-large teams if there is room for them in their division bracket.
Mission Viejo junior quarterback Luke Fahey passed for 317 yards and three touchdowns and scored on a 28-yard run. He completed 20 of 24 passes. For the regular season Fahey, who split time at the position with senior Drai Trudeau, completed 85 of 113 passes for 14 touchdowns without an interception.
Trudeau on Friday completed 7 of 9 passes for 49 yards.
Phillip Bell, Grand Nichols and Cash Semonza caught Fahey’s touchdown passes. Mission Viejo senior Dijon Lee returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown. Hinesward Lilomaiava rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown.
Lenny Ibarra rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown for Los Alamitos. Griffins sophomore quarterback Wyatt Nucci, who replaced Alonzo Esparza when Esparza left the game with an upper-body injury in the third quarter, threw a touchdown pass to Tron Baker in the fourth quarter.
Lee, a cornerback who committed to Alabama, scored his first touchdown of the season on the opening kickoff. Lee also is an outstanding receiver when the Diablos need him at the position where they are ocean deep.
Mission Viejo’s first possession was an 11-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Lilomaiava for a 14-0 lead. Two holding penalties against the Diablos were easily overcome.
After Los Alamitos junior linebacker Jackson Renger recovered a fumble at the Los Alamitos 38-yard line the Griffins put together a touchdown drive, with Ibarra crossing the goal line on a 6-yard to cut the deficit in half, 14-7 in the second quarter.
Mission Viejo responded with another 80-yard touchdown drive, this one finished by a 1-yard shovel pass from Fahey to senior tight end Nichols to make it 21-7.
A 23-yard punt return by Bell put the Diablos on the Los Alamitos 38-yard line with 1:43 to go in the half. Fahey completions of 19 yards to Lee and 21 yards to Semonza led to a 10-yard touchdown pass from Fahey to Bell, a well-placed throw that Bell pulled in the right rear corner of the end zone with 7 seconds remaining. The point-after kick was blocked, leaving the Diablos with a 27-7 lead at halftime.
Semonza caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Fahey in the third quarter. After the Nucci-to-Baker touchdown in the fourth quarter Fahey scored on his 28-yard run.
