La Serna cruises past Summit in CIF Southern Section Division 5 semifinal – Whittier Daily News

FONTANA — La Serna football’s Kaimana Tufaga waited for a punt in the middle of the third quarter from Summit punter Brandon Penaloza.

The punt bounced several times. Often, coaches want punt returners to let the ball roll dead to prevent a possible fumble.

La Serna coach Andy George didn’t feel that way. He didn’t feel the right play was letting the ball roll dead. Moreover, he knew what would happen. Tufaga picked up the punt and raced 82 yards for a touchdown.

That was the turning point in La Serna’s 34-22 victory Friday in the semifinal against Summit. La Serna (10-3) has a seven-game winning streak and will play in the finals against Palos Verdes. Summit finished the season with an 11-2 record.

“I knew he was going to return that punt,” George said. “Kaimana is a special person and a special player.”

Each team held the lead during the first half. Mark Mitchell put the SkyHawks in front 6-0 with 6:29 to play in the first quarter. After La Serna was called for a penalty, Summit coach Nicholas Matheny decided to try a two-point conversion and was successful in giving Summit an 8-0 lead.

La Serna came back with two touchdowns to take a 14-8 The first came on sophomore quarterback Grady Long’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Emre Law. On the first play of the second quarter when sophomore Xavier Nunez had a 1-yard run.

Mark Mitchell broke some tackles and raced 29 yards to the end zone. With the kick, that lifted Sunnit to a 15-14 edge.

The advantage was short. Jordan Bonilla had an 86-yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage after Mithchell’s touchdown.

Summit drove 11 plays to the La Serna 2, but the Skyhawks failed on a 4th-and-2 with 27 seconds remaining in the half. Tufaga’s touchdown gave the Lancers a 27-15 lead which they never relinquished. Summit was called for two false start penalties and failed to move the ball across the 50-yard line.