By Ted Apodaca
After a third-quarter rally that pulled the Avalon football team into a tie against Chadwick, the Dolphins got a big play and a long drive that led to a 38-22 win over the Lancers in a non-league game on Friday at Chadwick School in Palos Verdes.
Chadwick had taken a 22-8 lead into halftime on a touchdown with just 15 seconds left in the quarter.
The two teams had come into the game with Avalon ranked No. 3 in the MaxPreps state rankings for Eight-man football. Chadwick was ranked No. 6. In this week’s updated rankings, Chadwick has moved up to No. 4, while the Lancers dropped to the No. 5 spot.
“We just didn’t play like ourselves, penalties kind of dug into a big hole,” Lancer Head Coach Nick Morones said.
The Lancers received the second half kickoff put together a 65-yard drive for a touchdown that cut the lead to 22-14 after a failed two-point conversion.
Brandon Moreno sparked the drive with runs of 20 and 13 yards that got the Lancers to the Chadwick 28-yard line. Weston Jones and Isaac Rivas each had 10-yard runs that helped get the Lancers to the two yard line, allowing Jones to punch it into the end zone from there.
The Lancer defense held, forcing a Dolphin punt, which took a Chadwick bounce and put the Lancers back at their own nine-yard line. Jones ran a sweep play and broke it open for a 61-yard touchdown, but the play was called back on a holding penalty. The Lancers regrouped and put together an eight-play drive that culminated in a four-yard touchdown run by Jones. Moreno had a key 32-yard run that moved the ball to midfield to give the Lancers some room to work. Jones also ran in the two-point conversion to tie the game at 22-22.
Morones said that despite the loss, he feels good about the way his team played in stretches. The scoring drives the Lancers were able to put together showed that they can play with the likes of Chadwick, which will be the type of team the Lancers will be facing in the playoffs.
“If we do that consistently for four quarters, it’s a whole different ball game,” Morones said.
But the Dolphins struck back with a 62-yard touchdown pass to senior Austin Ransford, who finished the day with three touchdowns. Chadwick had scored first to take an 8-0 lead, but Avalon responded with a 58-yard touchdown run by Rivas and a two-point conversion run by Nathan Jones to tie the game at 8-8.
Morones pointed to some of the big third-down conversions the Dophins were able to convert to keep drives going. He said the Lancers seemed to lose their composure at times, but also credited the Dolphins for a well-played game.
“Hats off to Chadwick, they played really well, executed very well on offense and defense and we just didn’t play like ourselves today,” Morones said.
The Lancers (4-1) will host Mammoth (5-2) on Friday at 5 p.m. at Machado Field, looking to bounce back from their first loss of the season. Mammoth is ranked at the No. 9 spot in this week’s Max Preps Eight-man state rankings.
