MidValleySports.Com

The versatile Kevin Dillman gets physical.

(La Mirada)- A close game in the first half, turned into a tie game at the end of the third quarter, before Bishop Amat settled its business with La Mirada in the fourth on Friday night, 34-24.

Two things were obvious from the get go between the two football powers. The Lancers could score in one to two beats of the heart. The Matadores could slug their way up the field behind the powerful running of Johnny Hills and Adam Carrasco and eventually light the scoreboard.

With 39 seconds left in the third quarter Hills bashed his way in from four yards to tie the score at 24.

Then the Lancers separated themselves.

Starting at their own 14 with 36 seconds left in the third, Bishop Amat went 86 yards in less than two minutes. Quarterback Koa Haynes completed three passes for 27, 26, and 23-yards. Then on first and goal from the three he completed a fourth pass to Anthony Carrillo and it was a 31-24 game.

La Mirada managed a first down on its next series but was forced to punt and the Lancers took over at their own 15 with 8:33 to play.

To this point the long time consuming drives had all belonged to the Matadores, but here Amat used the next 6:23 to run 15 plays before Edward Mancilla kicked a 29-yard field goal to make it 34-24.

“All the credit in the world goes to Bishop Amat,” LM HC Mike Moschetti. “They played physical, they found a way to win the game.”

It took the Lancers 35 seconds to work their way down the field for the game’s first score when Haynes hit Sal Velasquez for a 3-yard score.

La Mirada responded in long form by driving 65 yards over five minutes and using 11-plays before Hills scored on a 5-yard run.

On the fifth play of its next possession Dionza Blue scored on a 1-yard run to put Amat up 14-7. Early in the second Hills tied it again on a 3-yard run for the Matadors.

With a minute to play in the half D.J. Daniels scored on a 1-yard run for the Lancers, but LM came back with a 25-yard field goal by Austin Watkin with zero time on the clock to make it 21-17 at the break.