Los Alamitos wins major passing tournament

Photo: Dan Albano The Orange County Register

Michael Huntley July 12, 2021 @ 06:35 AM

Los Alamitos made as big of a statement as possible in an offseason by winning the South County passing tournament at Mission Viejo High on Saturday. The Griffins won the tournament which had a field that included top programs like Servite, Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo and Long Beach Poly. In pool play of the tournament, Los Alamitos beat Santa Margarita, St. Paul, Notre Dame and league rival Newport Harbor. Los Alamitos beat Santa Margarita again in the quarterfinals, Bishop Amat in the semifinals and beat hosts Mission Viejo 42-35 in the championship. The main difference between Los Alamitos’ performance at the Battle at the Beach last week and this tournament was the return of [player_tooltip player_id="25419" first="Malachi" last="Nelson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="25398" first="Makai" last="Lemon"]. Nelson was the most impressive quarterback of the day Saturday. He is so relaxed in the pocket and makes deep throws look effortless. https://twitter.com/ocvarsityguy/status/1413964463145820163?s=20 Nelson also can crank up the velocity of his throws to fit them into tight windows when he has to. On Sunday, Nelson named his top seven schools: Notre Dame, Oklahoma, LSU, Alabama, Florida State, Ohio State and USC. https://twitter.com/latsondheimer/status/1413893520734056450?s=20 Lemon predictably was getting open all day, but it was a full-team effort that won the day by the other Los Alamitos receivers. Alec Wills looked better than I have ever seen him and [player_tooltip player_id="145170" first="Ethan" last="O’Connor"] and [player_tooltip player_id="145234" first="Gavin" last="Porch"] made big plays as well. https://twitter.com/MalachiNelson9/status/1414013699774242816?s=20 St. John Bosco transfer Kevin Longstreet did not play on Saturday due to an ankle injury, but juniors Isaiah Dorsey and Byron Ferguson and sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="115430" first="Stephen" last="Lendsey"] picked up the slack at cornerback. Lendsey is a transfer from Mater Dei and Dorsey made big plays at the Battle at the Beach last week too. https://twitter.com/sunset_rewind/status/1413944676583804930?s=20 Senior linebacker Brian Jurado, who also plays running back for the Griffins, had a major pass deflection in the championship game which led to the first defensive stop of the game. Aiden Greene made an interception on the final play of the game in the semifinals against Bishop Amat. Saturday marked the first passing tournament win for Los Alamitos under coach Ray Fenton. Later, I will break down the top offensive and defensive performers from each team from the tournament.