Antelope Valley Falls to Ayala

A yellow slicker protected Brent Newcomb from the rain that pounded Saturday night’s Southern Section Division II semifinal.

The reality had just begun to soak in, however, that his Antelope Valley High team’s remarkable postseason run had come to a sodden end.

“What do you say at this point,” asked the veteran Antelope Valley coach, whose team fell to Chino Hills Ayala, 28-27, when a two-point conversion attempt failed with less than four minutes left at Cal State Fullerton. “It was like everything was going great, then, bam, you hit a brick wall.”

That wall had a name--Kris Mitchell.

Ayala’s defensive end hit Andrew Campbell in the Antelope Valley backfield on the point-after attempt with 3 minutes 29 seconds left.

The third-seeded Bulldogs (11-1) will meet top-seeded Peninsula (13-0) Friday for the title, in their second consecutive trip to the championship game.

“I think we should have probably gone for one [point],” said Campbell, who caught a tipped pass from Justin Mobley in a crowd of traffic for a touchdown that pulled Antelope Valley (8-4) within a point.

Said Newcomb: “Maybe I out-coached myself on that. I thought Andrew could pound it in.”

As he did about everything else.

He blocked a point-after kick. He returned one Bulldog fumble 35 yards for a touchdown, and he was a force on defense.

Because of the heavy rain, fumbles played a major role. Antelope Valley lost two of 10 fumbles, while Ayala lost three of five but no turnover hurt more than the last one.

Antelope Valley punter Russell Griffith mishandled a snap at his own 35. By the time it was downed, the ball had slithered to his own one.

Bulldog Matt Johnson scored on the next play, and quarterback Mike Frost added a two-point run for a 28-21 lead with 8:29 left. Johnson finished with 140 yards and two touchdowns in 21 carries.