La Serna Wins, Advances to Semi-Finals

Jake Long leads La Serna into the semi-finals.

By Duane Barker

(Whittier) The La Serna Lancers needed a 34-yard touchdown pass from Jake Long to Jake George with :31 left to play to beat the Lawndale Cardinals 24-20 in the quarterfinals of the CIF Division IV playoffs Friday night at Sandy Sanchez Thorstenson Stadium on the campus of California High School.

The go-ahead score came on the heels of Lawndale’s touchdown that gave the Cardinals their first lead of the night. Quarterback Seth Shigg called his own number from 12-yards away and after the point after was blocked, Lawndale led 20-17.

The Cardinals kicked the ball off and when the dust settled, La Serna had the ball on their own 35 yard line. Two huge penalties, pass interference and roughing the passer pushed the ball all the way to the Lawndale 34. One play later Long hooked up with George in the corner of the endzone and the game winner.

Long finished the night hitting on 16 of 28 passes for 183-yards and two touchdowns.

Nick Meza got the interception to seal the win.

La Serna got the scoring started taking the opening drive 73-yards on 17 plays grinding up yardage and the clock. Adrian Castro got the call and plunged his way 3-yards across the goal for the game’s opening score. Long added the extra point.

The game would remain at 7-0 until the very last moments of the first half.

A Jake George interception at his own 43 set the Lancers up with decent field position. Three plays later the drive stalled at the Cardinal 10. Long came on to boot a 27-yard field goal as time ran out in the second quarter.

The Lancers got some good momentum from their defense as they stepped up to stop Lawndale on fourth and fourth at the Cardinal 28.

La Serna marched down to the Lawndale three but were stopped there to bring up fourth and goal. Lancer head coach Andy George decided to go for the score and was rewarded when Long found tight end Nolan Laracuente wide open for the touchdown. Long again added the point to push the Lancer advantage to 17-0.

Seeming to have the game in hand, La Serna preceded to give up 20 unanswered points to Lawndale and lose their lead.

On the ensuing drive after the Lancer score, Shigg found Seth Weston in the flat who broke a tackle and was off to the races. Weston won the footrace to paydirt for the Cardinals first score.

Owen Long and the bad dudes up front grind away some yardage.

Two more scores followed for Lawndale. A 21-yard pass from Shigg to Orlando Greenlow and the aforementioned touchdown by Shigg.

Jayden Northrup fielded the ensuing kickoff and was downed at the La Serna 35 setting up the Long to George heroics.

Lawndale did get the ball one last time but La Serna’s Nick Meza stepped in front of a Shigg pass getting the interception and sealing the win.

Up next the Lancers will travel north to La Canada to take on St. Francis in the semi-finals of the CIF Division IV playoffs.

2 Comments to "La Serna Wins, Advances to Semi-Finals"

  1. Maverick's Gravatar Maverick
    November 13, 2021 - 2:18 pm | Permalink

    Awesome win for LS…
    Here we come St Francis.

  2. Anonymous's Gravatar Anonymous
    November 13, 2021 - 6:34 am | Permalink

    It’s been a min I think 2017 season since they played SF. Should be fun.

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