LONG BEACH – Malachi Nelson passed for 306 yards and four touchdowns for Los Alamitos in a 47-14 win over Servite in a nonleague football game Friday at Veterans Stadium.
The game was delayed with 4:26 to go in the fourth quarter when most of the lights that illuminate the field went out. The contest was completed with limited lights working.
Los Alamitos receiver Makai Lemon, like Nelson a senior who is committed to USC, had 229 yards receiving on five receptions, two of them for touchdowns.
Nelson completed 13 of 21 passes. His first three passes were incompletions.
Damian Henderson of Los Alamitos ran for 202 yards and three touchdowns.
It was the first Servite-Los Alamitos game since 1990. Los Alamitos is No. 4 in the Orange County Top 25, Servite is tied at No. 12.
After a scoreless first quarter, Los Alamitos scored three touchdowns in the final six minutes of the second quarter.
The first score came on a 76-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Lemon. Nelson fired the ball to Lemon in stride running across the field at the 50-yard line and Lemon ran unopposed from there for a 7-0 lead.
Los Alamitos defensive end Sinn Brennan recovered a Servite fumble at the Friars 36-yard line to set up the Griffins’ second touchdown. Nelson completed four consecutive passes, with the final one a short pass to Gavin Porch, who squirmed his way out of tackles before crashing through the near left pylon for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
Another Servite fumble at midfield led to another Griffins touchdown on the final play of the half. Nelson threw into the end zone for Andrew Dubois who reached over the Servite defender in front of him to pull in the pass for the touchdown that made it 20-0 after the extra-point kick was wide.
Los Alamitos stretched its lead to 27-0 quickly in the second half, with Damian Henderson scoring on a 66-yard run less than a minute into the third quarter.
Servite got its first points of the game on a 1-yard run by Quaid Carr with seven minutes to go in the third quarter to make it 27-7. That was preceded by a fumble recovery by Servite’s Chris Lopez of a muffed punt return attempt at the Los Alamitos 23.
Nelson again found Lemon open deep between the hashmarks for a 69-yard touchdown pass and a 34-7 lead midway through the third quarter. And a 72-yard Nelson-to-Lemon pass to an open Lemon between the hasmharks led to an 8-yard touchdown run by Henderson for a 40-7 lead.
Tyler McCown ran for a 4-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter to create a 40-14 score.
Henderson ran for a 29-yard touchdown with 2:07 remaining for the 47-17 lead.
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Nelson had a punt of 75 yards in the first quarter.
Los Alamitos plays Santa Margarita, like Servite a Trinity League team, on Thursday at Veterans Stadium.
Servite does not play next week. The Friars’ next game is Sept. 23 at Helix in San Diego County. They open Trinity League play against nationally-ranked St. John Bosco on Sept. 30 at Cerritos College.