La Habra\u2019s football team rallied late but fell to undefeated Bakersfield Christian, 24-21, in the CIF Southern California Division 2-AA Regional championship Friday at Bakersfield Christian High.<\/p>\n
Junior quarterback DJ Mitchell ran for a touchdown for La Habra to cut Bakersfield Christian\u2019s lead to 24-21 with 1:08 remaining in the game.<\/p>\n
La Habra (11-4) had all three of its timeouts and attempted an onside kick. A La Habra player recovered the ball but the ball did not travel 10 yards before the recovery, which resulted in Bakersfield Christian taking possession.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield Christian (13-0) converted a third down to effectively end the game with La Habra having just one timeout remaining.<\/p>\n
La Habra beat San Jacinto 27-13 last week to win the CIF-SS Division 4 championship. It was the eighth CIF championship for coach Frank Mazzotta.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield Christian defeated Liberty 38-16 on Nov. 21 to win the Central Section Division 1A championship. The Eagles reached the regional finals last season but fell to Palos Verdes 28-10.<\/p>\n
La Habra opened the game with an 83-yard scoring drive that took over six minutes. Sonny Rodriguez ran for a 6-yard touchdown on an end-around to give the Highlanders a 7-0 lead.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield Christian scored 21 unanswered points after that and kept La Habra off the scoreboard for 28 minutes of game time.<\/p>\n
Arnez Lee ran for two touchdowns and Lincoln Adame threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jason Gutierrez to give the Eagles a 21-7 lead early in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
Late in the third quarter, Santi Bautista Cuesta blocked a field goal for La Habra and Kevika Mata\u2019utia-Martinez returned the ball to Bakersfield Christian\u2019s 33.<\/p>\n
Mitchell converted a fourth down with a 13-yard run and subsequently ran for a 2-yard touchdown to cut Bakersfield Christian\u2019s lead to 21-14 with four seconds left in the third quarter.<\/p>\n
La Habra had an opportunity to tie the game earlier in the fourth quarter, but Robert Hernandez of Bakersfield Christian intercepted a La Habra pass in the end zone.<\/p>\n
Bakersfield Christian\u2019s defense had two interceptions.<\/p>\n
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