Los Amigos Wins, Earns Playoff Berth

Los Amigos got the third and final automatic playoff spot from the Garden Grove League with a lackluster 35-14 victory over La Quinta Friday at Garden Grove High School.

Los Amigos will join league co-champions Pacifica and Garden Grove in the Southern Section Division IX playoffs starting next week.

The game was never close, but the Lobos (5-4-1, 4-1-1 in league) netted only 222 yards and needed to take advantage of three La Quinta turnovers and a blocked punt to score four touchdowns.

“We were a little flat,” Los Amigos Coach David Olson said. “It was kind of strange playing on a non-school day, and with senior night [pregame ceremonies], there were just a couple of things that took us out of our rhythm.”

Emo Taula fumbled on the Lobos’ opening possession, but everything else the senior did went right. He recovered a La Quinta fumble on the Aztecs’ first series and scored two plays later on a five-yard run, then blocked a punt and returned it 28 yards for a touchdown later in the quarter. Taula added two more touchdown runs and also recorded 13 tackles on defense.

La Quinta (3-7, 2-4) was hurt by five turnovers. The Aztecs scored on their final two possessions, the latter touchdown a two-yard run by 6-foot-3, 250-pound lineman Quoc “Jumbo” Tran.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GARDEN GROVE

*--*

League Overall School W L T W L T Garden Grove 5 1 0 6 3 1 Pacifica 5 1 0 6 4 0 Los Amigos 4 1 1 5 4 1 Rancho Alamitos 3 2 1 5 4 1 La Quinta 2 4 0 3 7 0 Santiago 1 5 0 3 7 0 Bolsa Grande 0 6 0 0 10 0

*--*

WEEK 10

Thursday’s results

* Garden Grove 21, Bolsa Grande 0

* Pacifica 24, Rancho Alamitos 13

* Santiago 46, Santa Ana 28

Friday’s result

* Los Amigos 35, La Quinta 14