HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL / PLAYOFF NOTEBOOK : Fourth Time Was a Charm for Dominguez

Compton Dominguez High pulled off the most dramatic victory of the first round of the Southern Section playoffs.

Trailing Saugus, 33-32, in the last minute of their Division II game, the Dons went to the bomb with the ball at their 40-yard line.

Quarterback Sean Williams threw three incomplete passes before connecting with receiver Scott Coleman in the end zone with two seconds remaining, giving Dominguez a 38-33 victory.

“They couldn’t complete that pass again in 100 attempts,” said Jack Bowman, Saugus’ coach. “Anyone who says different is lying.”

The Dons (9-2) play host to Anaheim Esperanza (10-1) at 7:30 tonight in a quarterfinal game.

The Aztecs, who are coming off a 28-21 victory over Huntington Beach, have seven shutouts this season.

The odds are against Anaheim Servite upsetting Pasadena Muir in a Division II game at Pasadena City College.

Although Coach Larry Toner has rebuilt Servite into a winner, he is 0-2 against the Mustangs. Muir defeated the Friars, 48-20, in 1989, and 20-9 two years ago.

“Overall, they have better team speed than when we played them two years ago,” Toner said.

To make matters worse, Servite’s top back, Elphamous Malbrue, is out after suffering a concussion in last week’s 14-0 victory over Placentia El Dorado.

Coach Tom Meiss probably rebuilds football programs better than anyone else in the Southland.

His latest project is at Santa Ana Foothill. The Knights, 2-7-1 last season, finished third in the Century League and qualified for the Division IV playoffs. They opened with a 23-21 upset victory over Riverside Poly.

Foothill (7-4) plays host to Rancho Santa Margarita (9-2) tonight at Tustin High.

“This is really just 22 average guys,” Meiss said.

Meiss most recently turned around the football program at Orange, which qualified for the Division III playoffs last season.

Only four of the 11 at-large entries in the Southern Section playoffs got through the first round.

The most surprising winner was Fountain Valley Los Amigos (6-3-2), which upset Azusa, 24-14, and plays host to third-seeded Lompoc (8-3) tonight at Bolsa Grande High.

Los Amigos sneaked into the playoffs after upsetting Garden Grove Rancho Alamitos, the division’s top-ranked team at the time, in the final regular-season game.

Another at-large winner was Van Nuys Montclair Prep, which shut out Murrieta Valley, 26-0, in a Division IX game.

The Mounties (10-0), who play host to South Torrance (8-3) tonight at Valley College in Van Nuys, were not seeded but have a good chance at winning the championship.

The title would overcome two years of frustration for the team, which was banned from postseason competition last year for illegally recruiting players in 1990.

This season, Montclair Prep played a free-lance schedule after it was kicked out of the Alpha League.

Notes

UCLA quarterback John Barnes will be on hand tonight when Mission Viejo Trabuco Hills (10-1) plays at La Mirada (7-4) in a Division VIII game. Barnes will be watching his younger brother, Pat, who starts at quarterback for Trabuco Hills. Pat, who is nursing a broken left finger he suffered three weeks ago, passed for 263 yards and a touchdown in last week’s 21-0 victory over Riverside Notre Dame. He is fourth on Orange County’s all-time passing yardage list with 6,182 yards. . . Hawthorne (9-2) should be in better shape than it was in last week’s 15-7 victory over Montebello Schurr in Division III. The Cougars, who recently lost starting tailback Corey McCoy because of an ankle injury, will have Raul Sanchez in the lineup tonight when they play host to Simi Valley (7-4). Sanchez missed the last two games because he was in El Salvador with his family.

Fontana Coach Dick Bruich, known for conservative play-calling, has opened things up this season. The Steelers (10-1) are passing more frequently with senior quarterback Gary Tessitore, who completed seven of 13 for 154 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-7 victory over Littlerock in a Division I game. But Bruich hasn’t given up on the rushing game. Fontana ran for 228 yards against Littlerock, including 147 yards by David Griffen.