Matadores lose coin flip; southeast semi-final to be hosted by Cathedral
Compton~La Mirada beat Dominguez last Friday night 55-13 in the CIF-SS Southeast Quarterfinal and will advance to a semifinal for the first time since 2012.
The Matadores will travel to Cathedral High School in Los Angeles for the Friday contest after losing the coin flip conducted by CIF officials this past Saturday morning.
The game never seemed to be close after Sei-J Lauago ran back the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
After taking a 31-7 at halftime, the Matadores held Dominguez at bay in the second half with a defense that continues to surge.
Tristan Meyer, the starting junior home-grown quarterback for the Mats completed 9 of 15 passes for 205 yards in his first taste of post-season football as the starter.
Dominguez had 250 rushing yards compared to La Mirada’s 136, but had only 31 total yards passing.
La Mirada had only 80 more total yards than Dominguez, 341 to 261 and the Dons actually possessed the ball more; with the Matadores holding the ball for a little over 28 minutes and the Dons having the ball a little over 19.
La Mirada Head Coach Mike Moschetti downplayed the significance of playing on the road this Friday, “We don’t care where we play.”
Including his first two seasons as co-coach with Ollie Lynch, Moschetti has reached the CIF playoffs all eight seasons as head coach of the Matadores and has captured the Suburban League title in six of those eight years including a CIF title in 2009 with Lynch.
Before Moschetti came aboard, La Mirada hadn’t won a league title in eight years.
Also, La Mirada now owns the state record for consecutive section playoff appearances at 36 after Long Beach Poly was declared ineligible following the forfeiture of games this season. The two teams had been tied since 1980.
