PHOTOS: Northwood starts fast, captures CIF Division 6 playoff victory over Ayala

Northwood’s Joseph Harper eludes Ayala’s outside linebacker Dominic Williams for a gain during the second quarter Friday night. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Northwood High School’s football team finished the regular season strong and the Timberwolves continued their solid play Friday night, defeating Ayala 34-20 in the opening round of the CIF Division 6 playoffs at Irvine Stadium.

Northwood (9-2) got strong contributions from quarterback Gavin Lounsbury, running back/linebacker Joseph Harper and defensive tackle Donald Logo to advance into the second round next week against Murrieta Mesa (7-4) on the road. The Timberwolves have won four of their last five games.

“It was by far the best offense, it was great,” said Northwood Coach JC Clarke. “I’m real happy with the offense, except they subbed in a little too early, so their kids got to sub in and none of our defensive kids got to sub in so I feel awful for my second string defense.”

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Northwood jumped out to a commanding 34-7 lead on a 2-yard TD run by Quintin Lynch so on the next series the Timberwolves began using subs on offense. The lead was never in danger although Ayala (2-9) did cut the lead to 34-20 with 5:09 left on a 4-yard TD run by Jedi Hernandez.

Lounsbury completed 10 of 13 passes for 165 yards and two touchdown passes in one of his best games. Harper rushed for 75 yards on 14 carries, mainly in the first half and also made his presence known on defense with numerous tackles and sacks.

Longo put constant pressure defensively and also recovered a fumble and returned the ball 39 yards for a touchdown to put the Timberwolves ahead 27-7 in the third quarter.

“It was a great win, the offense put up 34 points, the defense played amazing,” said Longo. “Special teams, we got to work on it, but defense overall played great. We shouldn’t have let them come back so much in the end, but the defense played great, offense played great, it’s winning football.”

Longo was thrilled to recover the fumble for a score.

“I was coming off the edge, I see the quarterback sneak, the quarterback drops the ball, I see the ball, I pick it up and run it in for a touchdown, I almost got caught. It was a great feeling,” he said. “I’m extremely excited, these boys have worked every single day and we just want to go out there and win another CIF championship.”

Harper put Northwood ahead 21-7 on a 5-yard TD run late in the second quarter to give the Timberwolves a comfortable lead at the half.

“A lot of people were saying the record of Ayala was 2-8 but we looked at their schedule and they competed with some real tough teams and on film, they looked really good,” Harper said. “This is my third time in the playoffs and we’ve gone on runs on all the times we’ve been in and we’ve always gone up against guys that are faster and bigger than us.

“I knew we just had to play the ball we’ve been playing all year. Our defense has been playing amazing and I know we got some skilled guys back and we can throw the ball. I knew if we could throw the ball and run, we could sure take it to this team and that’s exactly what happened.”

Harper’s blocked punt set up the Timberwolves final score. He got an assist from his younger brother, Jacob, on the play, recovering the ball after the block.

“He’s played amazing,” Harper said.

Northwood took the early lead when Lounsbury connected with Jack Schultz on a 41-yard touchdown pass with 7:48 left in the first quarter. However, Ayala’s Brenton Smith returned the ensuing kick-off 95 yards for a TD to even the score.

The Timberwolves regained the lead when Lounsbury hit Isaac Kwon on a 36-yard TD pass later in the quarter and Northwood never looked back.

Ayala was led by quarterback Alex Way who passed for 223 yards and one touchdown. Many of the yards came after Northwood had built the sizeable lead early in the fourth quarter.

Murrieta Mesa, Northwood’s opponent next week, defeated Ontario Christian 42-0.

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