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Football: Miramonte Upset by Las Lomas

The Mats drop their first game of the season with a 27-24 defeat at the hands of Las Lomas.

Adam Berke, Neighbor

Posted Sat, Oct 16, 2010 at 5:13 am PT|Updated Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 12:13 pm PT

Las Lomas 27, Miramonte 24

The Star: Las Lomas running back Marquis Waters carried the ball 35 times for 321 yards and three touchdowns. He used his quickness to get through holes before the defense could react.

The Turning Point: With 5:41 to play in the fourth quarter, trailing Miramonte 24-20, the Knights faced a 4th-and-1 on the Mats' 24-yard line. Coach Doug Longero, rolled the dice and decided to go for the first down instead of opting for the field goal and giving the ball back to Miramonte. Waters picked up the all-important 1st-down, running off left tackle for 15 yards. The next play he finished the drive with a nine-yard touchdown, which turned out to be the game-winner.

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The Quote: "That was a career-high by far. I am so juiced!" — Las Lomas running back Marquis Waters discussing his 321 rushing yards.

What's Next? Miramonte plays at home against Campolindo, Oct. 22 at 7 p.m.

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Bottom Line: Waters was absolutely dominant. He was healthy for the first time coming off of an important bye-week and looked like a mini-version of the Tennessee Titan Chris Johnson. Waters used his superior quickness and speed to run all over Miramonte. The Knights rediscovered their offensive line and suddenly despite a horrible preseason, the Knights enter next week as a DFAL contender.

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Miramonte High dropped its first game of the season in dramatic fashion to a vastly improved Las Lomas team.

The Knights (2-4, 1-1 DFAL) obviously used their two-week layoff well, as they looked like a completely different outfit against Miramonte (6-1, 2-1), which came into the game ranked No. 2 in Patch's the North Coast Section Division III rankings.

"I went to watch Miramonte last week against Dougherty Valley," said Las Lomas running back Marquis Waters of how he spent his bye week. "And we picked up on their tendencies. We knew that if we beat them this week and Dublin next week we could be in first place."

Waters saw a dynamic, spread offense run by quarterback Ross Anderson, the ultimate dual threat in the DFAL who has racked up 900 rushing yards to go with 723 passing yards and accounted for 19 touchdowns.

But the Knights picked up on formation related tip-offs and were able to hold one of the most explosive offenses in the area to 172 passing yards and 133 rushing yards.

"We got back to the basics during the bye," said Knights coach Longero. "We changed some things on the o-line and we started to get healthy. Waters got healthy."

Not only did "running" Waters get healthy, but he went berserk against Miramonte, rushing for a career high 321 yards on 35 carries.

"Career high by far," Waters said. "I am so juiced."

Waters carried the ball for 66 yards on the game's winning drive. He also converted a key fourth-and-1 on the Matadors' 24 and followed it up by pounding in the game-winner from nine yards out.

After the Waters score, Miramonte still had a real chance of answering back. The Mats trailed 27-24 and gained possession with 5:23 to play on their own 17.

Miramonte drove all the way down the field on Anderson's legs, including highlight carries of 14, 16 and 15 yards. The Mats were on the Las Lomas 12-yard line with 4:03 to play and knocking on the door of an incredible come-from-behind victory.

All of the sudden disaster struck for Miramonte, on a routine pitch play where Las Lomas got deep penetration into the backfield. As Anderson sprinted to his left to pitch the ball to his running back, he was hit by a Knight's defender, causing the ball to squirt free. The loose football was recovered on the 23-yard line by the man of the evening, Waters.

"We believe we can do anything we want to do," Waters said.

Despite the loss and an impressive defensive effort from the Knights, Anderson still managed to shine. At 6-foot-6, he is deceptively quick and agile. Even on a night when the offense was not clicking, Anderson completed 13 of 24 passes for 173 yards and ran for an additional 112 yards.

He routinely made defenders miss with his excellent change of direction moves and ball fakes.

The loss is damaging for Miramonte, but it still has the talent and coaching necessary to rebound and compete for a DFAL championship. The Mats will try to bounce back against Campolino next Friday at home.

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Las Lomas 27, Miramonte 24

Las Lomas 7 7 6 7 — 27
Miramonte 3 7 0 14 — 24

Scoring summary
11:45, 1st: LL — Sabella 10 run (Howard kick)

3:15, 1st: M — Piganelli 39 field goal

11:11, 2nd: M — Thatcher 35 pass from Anderson (Piganelli kick)

3:26, 2nd: LL — Waters 60 run (Howard kick)

3:43, 3rd: LL — Waters 20 run (kick no good)

10:53, 4th: M — Joss 17 pass from Anderson (Piganelli kick)

6:42, 4th: M— Henson 60 punt return (Piganelli kick)

5:28, 4th: LL — Waters 9 run (Howard kick)

Individual Statistics
Rushing (car-yards): LL — Waters 35-321, Sabella 2-78, Romez 3-14, Miller 6-(-7). M — Anderson 17-112, Coupin 4-22, Thatcher 2-(-1).
Passing (comp-att-yards-int): LL — Miller 4-10-45. M — Anderson 13-24-172.
Receiving (rec-yards): LL — Merhoff 2-36, Smith 1-7, Romez 1-2. M — Honens 1-38, Thatcher 1-35, Joss 2-26, Coupin 3-25, Piganelli 4-17, Pietrykowski 1-9, McGonigle 1-9.

Team offense (rush-pass-total)
Las Lomas 406-45-451
Miramonte 133-172-305
Fumbles/lost: LL — 0/0; M — 1/1.
Records: Las Lomas 2-4, 1-1. Miramonte 6-1, 2-1.