Hacienda Heights Wilson Is Champion

Completing a turnaround from a three-victory season in 1995, Hacienda Heights Wilson won its first Southern Section football championship, defeating Hacienda Heights Los Altos, 34-13, in the Division VI championship game Friday night at Mt. San Antonio College.

Junior quarterback Chris Ulibarri threw the first of his three touchdown passes on the Wildcats’ first play, a 68-yarder to Percy Arceneaux.

Wilson (14-0) increased its lead to 13-0 later in the quarter on Ulibarri’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Johnny Canales. The Wildcats drove 63 yards in 10 plays on their next possession, with Arceneaux’s six-yard run giving them a 19-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

George Barnes got Los Altos (9-4-1) onto the scoreboard with a 79-yard touchdown pass to Derrell Powers with five minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the first half.

Ulibarri completed 12 of 15 passes for 291 yards and was intercepted once. Barnes, playing for the first time after missing the previous six games because of academic ineligibility, completed 11 of 26 passes for 249 yards.

The loss kept Los Altos Coach Dwayne DeSpain from winning his record eighth championship. DeSpain and former Temple City Coach Bob Hitchcock have each won seven titles.