Griffins Fall to Mater Dei in Air Strike's Semifinals

Six high school football teams from O.C. Patch cities were among the 15 squads that convened at Dana Hills High on Saturday for the 2011 Nike Air Strike Passing League Tournament, but only one -- Los Alamitos -- made it out of the pool play rounds.

Led by quarterback Dylan Lagarde's five-touchdown performance in a last-minute, come-from-behind victory over St. John Bosco in the quarterfinals, the Griffins earned the right to face Mater Dei in the one-day tournament's semifinals.

Lagarde finished his two playoff-round games with eight touchdown passes, including three eye-popping hook-ups with senior wideout Josh Caiquo, two more each to senior receiver Kyle Roberts and junior Luke Pastell, and another to sophomore DaShawn Gordon, who turned in an impressive diving effort for his score.

Defensively, the Griffins showed the ability to slap away a number of opposing pass attempts, and the Los Alamitos defense was able to hold St. John Bosco scoreless after Lagarde and Roberts notched the winning score with a minute left.

Mater Dei's senior-to-be quarterback Ryan McMahon found his twin tower targets, junior Thomas Duarte (6-3, 225) and senior Josh Cook (6-4, 235), early and often in the semifinals, and although Los Alamitos gave the Monarchs a run in the closing moments, the Monarchs moved on with a 31-19 victory.

In the tournament finals, Long Beach Poly beat Mater Dei, 21-14. Both the Jackrabbits and Monarchs earned first-round byes after completing pool round play with 4-0 records.

In pool play, the Monarchs took down the host Dolphins, 33-21, and Loyola made short work of San Clemente, 33-14.

Poly took down Santa Margarita early on, 20-14, and Tesoro showed well against tournament semifinalist Edison, winning 25-16.