La Mirada Ties Capistrano Valley

LA MIRADA — Capistrano Valley blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead and had to settle for a 21-21 tie with La Mirada Friday night before an estimated 2,400 at La Mirada Stadium.

After taking a 21-6 lead with 1 minute 28 seconds remaining in the third quarter on Eric Ettlin’s two-yard touchdown catch from sophomore quarterback Jeff Dixon, the Cougars appeared to be rolling to victory.

However, La Mirada quarterback Robert Herndon threw two fourth quarter touchdown passes to Tim Lemon to close the gap to 21-19. Herndon completed a two-point conversion to Scott Rudiger to tie the score with 6:28 to play.

Herndon, who threw for 19 touchdowns in 1996, completed 14 of 21 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. His counterpart, Dixon, was 12 for 18 with 201 yards and two touchdowns.

“I’m disappointed,” Capistrano Valley Coach Dave Brown said. “We had the momentum in the third quarter, but lost it in the fourth. Our secondary needs work. We didn’t play well when we had to.”

After leading at halftime, 7-6, the Cougars extended their lead to 14-6 when Dixon completed a screen pass to Craig Tortorici, who raced 84 yards for the score.