Vikings fumble away title

Marina High Coach Mark Rehling said earlier this week that if his

football troops had any hopes of beating Los Alamitos in their showdown

for the 1999 Sunset League championship, then the Vikings would have to

do a good job of holding on to the football.

They didn’t, and in the process, saw their dreams of winning their first

league title in 13 years slip away.

Marina fumbled the ball seven times Friday night, losing four of them,

and Los Alamitos took advantage of prime real estate throughout the game

to post a 28-12 victory before a standing-room-only crowd of 5,500 at

Westminster High’s Bill Boswell Field.

The win gave the Griffins (9-1, 4-1) an outright league championship and

the Sunset’s top seed in next week’s CIF Division I playoffs.

Marina, which ended the regular season 5-4-1 overall and in a three-way

tie with Esperanza and Fountain Valley for second place (each finished

with a 3-2 mark), will enter next week’s postseason as the league’s

third-place representative.

Esperanza outlasted Fountain Valley Friday at Orange Coast College,

21-20, to deny the Barons a share of the Sunset title.

The Aztecs, by virtue of having beaten both Fountain Valley and Marina

during the final two weeks of the regular season, secured their 11th

consecutive postseason berth and will enter the playoffs as the league’s

second-place team.

‘It’s a blessing that we’re in the playoffs,’ said an emotional Rehling

moments after Friday’s game. ‘The kids worked so hard to get here, and to

lose a big game like this in this fashion is tough. You can’t turn the

ball over the way we did against a team the caliber of a Los Alamitos and

expect to win.’

The Vikings ran just 19 plays in the first half and held the ball for a

little more than five of the game’s first 24 minutes. In its five

offensive possessions of the half, Marina fumbled the ball away three

times, suffered an interception, and also shanked a punt.

Los Alamitos cashed in on three of those miscues, with senior running

back Damon Johnson scoring on runs covering 3, 5, and two yards as the

Griffins opened up a 21-0 lead at the half.

That margin could have been worse, had place-kicker Chris Kluwe not

missed field goal attempts of 40 and 37 yards, the latter coming on the

final play of the first half.

Marina all but gift-wrapped each Los Alamitos drive in the half as all

five Griffin possessions began inside Viking territory (35, 27, 47, 37,

and 48 yard lines).

Fumbles have plagued Marina during Sunset League play. The Vikings also

suffered seven fumbles -- losing five - during last week’s 24-12 loss to

Esperanza, a setback which cost the Vikings a chance to earn no worst

than a tie for their first league title since 1986.

‘That’s a tough thing to take, knowing that just a week ago, we were in

the driver’s seat. But as you know, this is a tough, tough league, and

you need to be at your best to beat each of the other five teams. I would

have liked to have seen what we could have done had we given ourselves a

chance.’

Although Marina was far from its best, the Vikings showed a fighting

spirit in the second half.

After holding the Griffins on their first possession following the second

half kickoff, it still appeared that nothing would go Marina’s way when

Kluwe pinned the Vikings at their own two-yard line following a 48-yard

punt. But the Vikings dug in and responded with the game’s best drive, a

98-yard march that took 15 plays and consumed 7:16 of the third quarter

clock.

During the drive, sophomore running back Turrill Engleman came up with a

pair of nifty runs of 27 and 25 yards, and the Vikings converted three

third-down plays. The biggest play, however, came when senior fullback

Ray Mietkiewicz punched his way into the end zone from a yard out on

fourth-and-goal.

The point after was blocked, leaving the Vikings down, 21-6.

The impressive march brought the Marina crowd to life, and only supported

Rehling’s belief in his team.

‘I never once quite believing we’d come back, even when we were down 21

at the half,’ he said. ‘That 98-yard drive shows you how hard we are to

stop - if we don’t stop ourself first.’

The momentum continued to build along the Marina sideline when outside

linebacker Ken Webber intercepted Mike Sanford on Los Alamitos’ ensuing

possession, and the junior’s return of 28-yard return set the Vikings up

at their own 38-yard line with 42 seconds left in the third quarter.

But whatever momentum Marina had worked so hard to attain swung back Los

Alamitos’ way when Mietkiewicz fumbled the ball away on his first-down

run, giving the Griffins the ball back at the Marina 35.

Six plays later, Johnson scored on a nine-yard run to put the game out of

reach, 28-6, with 10:28 to play.

The Vikings did come right back to score one more time, with Mietkiewicz

again scoring on a one-yard plunge to cap an 83-yard drive, but only 6:42

remained on the clock.

Marina would get just one more possession the rest of the way.

The Griffins bottled up Mietkiewicz in the opening half, limiting him to

just 40 yards on nine carries. But he came back with 77 yards on 13

second half carries to finish with 117 yards in his final home game.

Engleman, the heir apparent to Mietkiewicz, had his best game rushing

game of the season and finished with 104 yards on 10 carries.

Johnson tied Mietkiewicz for game-high rushing honors with 117 yards on

30 attempts.