By Johnathan Saller
(Bellflower) – Mayfair squeezed by the Lancers 41-28 in a see-saw affair with a late touchdown by running back Jerry Smith Friday Night. Smith sealed the deal when he intercepted a pass in the final minute, taking it to the house for his third straight score at Ron Yary Stadium.
The Monsoons put together a 12 play drive capped off by Smith’s 14-yard run and quarterback Evan Hunko rolled right on play action to put them up by seven on the two-point conversion bringing the score to 35-28.
Norwalk got the ball back and put together an 11 play drive of its own. With 20.1 seconds remaining and no timeouts quarterback Adrian Diaz threw up a poor pass in triple coverage and Smith snatched it going 82-yards the other way with some shifty jukes cutting across the field to paydirt.
The Lancers, fresh off back to back wins, looked to be in control in the second quarter as they were marching down the field trying to go up by two scores. Wingback Elijhaa Penny, a division one recruit, was stuffed for negative yards and was stripped for a rare fumble and Mayfair recovered.
Norwalk however, was able to force a three and out only to fumble the ensuing punt return. The Monsoons took advantage on the very next play tying it on Hunko’s 55-yard pass to Smith on a go-route.
“We gave them too many opportunities, we had a chance to put them away in the second quarter and we gave the ball away, it changed the momentum,” head coach Jesse Ceniceros said. “Luckily it’s early in the season and we have a lot of games left, we’ll probably see them again in the playoffs.”
The first league game from both teams featured powerful running games with one of the best in Penny. At near full speed he put together an impressive performance running 30 times for 230 yards and three scores on runs of 22, 19 and 16 yards. Mayfair had an impressive running attack itself in Jason Logologo who carried 24 times for 179 yards and Smith on eight carries for 90 yards. Smith scored twice running the ball, once receiving and once on defense capping off a highlight reel performance.
Next week Norwalk (2-3) (0-1) hosts Bellflower and Mayfair (2-3) (1-0) hosts Cerritos.
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