Los Alamitos football rallies past Yorba Linda in first-round thriller

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LONG BEACH — Los Alamitos and Yorba Linda’s football teams shared a more pressing matter Friday than their projected membership in the Alpha League in 2026-27.

The first football games between the schools arrived in the opening round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs.

Los Alamitos and Yorba Linda turned out to be closely-matched in several areas except one:

The Ibarra factor.

Los Alamitos senior Lenny Ibarra scored two touchdowns in the second half and intercepted a pass in the end zone with nine seconds left to help rally the Griffins to a 35-28 victory at Veterans Stadium.

Los Alamitos (9-2), ranked ninth in Orange County and No. 5 in Division 2, trailed Yorba Linda 28-14 at halftime before Ibarra sparked the comeback.

“Absolutely,” Los Alamitos coach Ray Fenton said of the Ibarra factor. “Not only physically but leadership wise. You should have heard him at halftime in the locker room with our kids. I really think he kept them in the game.”

In advancing to the quarterfinals next week against San Juan Hills, Los Alamitos took a 33-28 lead — its first of the game — on an 8-yard touchdown run by Kamden Tillis with 1:04 left in the fourth. Ibarra caught the 2-point conversion on a trick play.

Tillis, a junior, set up his score with a 35-yard reception along the sideline on a pass from Colin Creason. The play highlighted an 86-yard scoring drive that began with 4:47 left.

Los Alamitos trimmed Yorba Linda’s lead to 28-21 late in the third quarter a leaping, 24-yard touchdown grab by Ibarra from Creason.

Early in the fourth, Yorba Linda (9-2) tried a fourth-and-6 from its 34 but threw an incompletion that Ibarra almost intercepted. Three plays later, the Army commit scored on a 20-yard TD run to cut Yorba Linda’s lead to 28-27. The extra point missed with 11:10 left.

Yorba Linda, ranked 12th in the county and 12th in Division 2, made big plays early and late to lead 28-14 at halftime.

Troy Roberts caught a 13-yard touchdown from Noah Trujillo with four seconds left in the second quarter as the Mustangs opened their third, 14-point lead of the first half.

Roberts’ leaping grab on the side of the end zone on second-and-goal to capped a 76-yard drive and a perfect first half of passing by Trujillo. The junior, in his second game as the full-time starter, went 12 for 12 for 171 yards.

Trujillo completed a 36-yard pass to Caleb Zamora on the drive to help the Bravo League champion answer a defensive score by Los Alamitos.

The Griffins’ Logan Moore deflected a pass and forced a fumble on the play that Gavin Vera returned 13 yards for a touchdown. The defensive score cut Yorba Linda’s lead to 21-14 with 5:17 left in the second quarter.

Yorba Linda led 21-7 in the middle of the second quarter on a 10-yard TD run by Vaughn Sharp to punctuate a 77-yard drive.

The Mustangs set up the score with a trick play as Roberts connected with Michael Saucedo for a 37-yard completion.

Yorba Linda played it aggressively on the first play of the second quarter as Isaiah Trujillo scored on a fourth-and-goal run from the 2 for a 14-0 lead.