Northwood rallies to defeat Vista Del Lago 16-12 and reach CIF finals

Northwood players celebrate after Friday’s 16-12 victory over Vista Del Lago. (Photo courtesy Northwood athletics).

Northwood’s football team staged a big second half comeback to defeat Vista Del Lago 16-12 in the semifinals of the CIF Division 11 playoffs Friday night on the road to earn the school’s second trip to the championship game.

The Timberwolves (8-5) will host Long Beach Jordan next weekend in the CIF finals, most likely at Irvine Stadium.

Northwood appeared in the CIF championship game in 2005, losing to Tesoro 27-6 in the Division IX finals at Orange Coast College.

Northwood trailed 9-3 with four minutes left in the first half. The Timberwolves rallied from a 12-6 third quarter deficit.

Adam Harper led the offense with a touchdown and Lucas Old kicked three field goals for the Timberwolves around the 35-yard range, according to Coach JC Clarke.

Clarke used Harper in the wildcat offense in the second half and it helped the Timberwolves in their comeback.

Quarterback Eugene Miyata also had a solid game, rushing for about 50 yards, Clarke added.

“We played good defense,” Clarke said in a phone interview after the game. “They scored on the first play of the game. Late in the third quarter, we went to a wild cat (offense) with Harper and just plowed down the field and they got worn out. It had to be a 10 or 12 play drive going down their to score.”

Ryan Kim had an interception for Northwood on Vista Del Lago’s last possession.

Now, the Timberwolves prepare for the finals.

“We’re extremely happy,” Clarke said. “We had that pandemic and we had to forfeit our last three games of the spring. And that bad feeling went through the summer and slowly but surely the kids came back the first couple of weeks and bought in and as they bought in we got better and better.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com