The Rematch: UCLA vs. Stanford

Can the UCLA football team beat Stanford? If Saturday’s outcome is any indication, the Bruins have a lot of work to do if they want to upset the Cardinal on Friday night in the Pac-12 championship game.

UCLA and Stanford will meet for the second time in six days. The venue will be different, in Palo Alto instead of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, but the outcome will be the same if the Bruins can’t make some key adjustments.

Stanford rolled UCLA, 35-17. By the second quarter, the rout was on. Stanford was up 21-10 at halftime and scored two more touchdowns in 13 seconds in the third quarter to pull away.

The Stanford defense scored. The Stanford running attack gave the Bruins fits. UCLA had one scoring drive that actually netted -8 yards, a 48-yard field goal in the second quarter.

UCLA coach Jim Mora was asked after the game what his team needs to do to beat Stanford.

“Once I look at the film, I can better answer that question for you,” Mora said. “There is a lot to learn. I’m not going to get into too many specifics. But I don’t want to give away what we need to do in order to improve.”

Two areas where the Bruins can improve is in penalties and time of possession. UCLA committed 12 penalties for 135 yards, unacceptable against a disciplined football team like Stanford.

“Too many penalties. Some were aggressive, some were a lack of focus, some were not being technically sound,” Mora said. “It was not anything specific. Yes, it’s disappointing but we have got to get over it quickly because we have a game on Friday night.”

At least Mora recognizes his team committed too many penalties. He doesn’t seem too concerned with how aggressive his players were during the game. He doesn’t seem overly worried that some of his players were not as focused as they should be. There is no way UCLA can beat Stanford by giving up 135 yards in penalties again.

Time of possession was another glaring advantage for Stanford. The Cardinal held the ball for nearly 10 more minutes in the game, 34:31 for Stanford, 25:29 for UCLA. Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor was a big reason for the time of possession advantage for the Cardinal. He rushed 20 times for 142 yards. The entire Stanford team gained 263 yards on 49 carries.

UCLA ran the ball only 33 times for 118 yards. Being down by three touchdowns in the third quarter will force a team to abandon its running game, not that the UCLA ground attack was very effective. Johnathan Franklin was held to only 68 yards on 21 carries, a measly 3.1 yards per carry. He’ll need to do better if the Bruins are to have any chance of beating Stanford. Mora is hoping his kids have short memories.

“I think it’s important that since we are a day short in preparation, when you say get over it quick -- that implies forgetting about it,” Mora said. “We want to learn from it. We want to get over the disappointment of a loss quickly. We need to get over the disappointment of a loss.”

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The Valencia football team ended its playoff run in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Northern Division playoffs. While the Vikings reached the semifinals, and lost for the fourth time in the past five years, it was a disappointing finish.

Of the three teams from the Foothill League in the playoffs, Valencia was the least likely to make a deep playoff run. Both Hart and Canyon were ranked No. 1 in the Northern Division poll. Valencia never reached that height.

But the Vikings upset Hart and Canyon and won the Foothill League championship outright. They entered the playoffs as the No. 2 seed, behind top-seeded Palmdale, which lost in the first round.

Riding a wave of confidence and a seven-game winning streak, Valencia lost, 50-33, to Palos Verdes in the semifinals. Palos Verdes knocked out Hart in the quarterfinals and reached its first CIF championship game since 1965.

Even though the Valencia football team ended its season a little sooner than anticipated, there was one highlight.

Valencia quarterback Sean Murphy set the school record for most touchdown passes in a season. The senior threw three touchdown passes against Palos Verdes, giving him 38 on the season and the school record.

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The Saugus girls cross country team won its seventh CIF state championship in a row. To put it in perspective, the Saugus girls have been state champions longer than Barack Obama has been president. When they won their first state championship back in 2005, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 10,717.50. The average price of gas in California was $2.47 a gallon.

Sophomore Samantha Ortega was in the second grade when Saugus won its first state championship. She is now the star of the team, taking the torch from Kaylin Mahoney, Jenay Jauregui and a host of Frankian and Murakami sisters.

Ortega, who only started running with the Saugus cross country team this season, was the runner-up in the Division II state meet race at Woodward Park in Fresno. She completed the course in 17 minutes, 33 seconds, four seconds behind Maggie Bell of Granite Bay High School.

The Saugus girls scored 97 points in the state championship meet and beat La Costa Canyon by 11 points.

Five Saugus runners finished in the top 50. Heidi Hoslet was 21^st, Abigail Frankian was 23^rd, Katie Huntington was 35^th and Olivia Altieri was 49^th.

The Saugus girls are in good hands, or feet as the case may be, with Ortega returning. But only she and Frankian are expected to be back as the Saugus girls pursue an eighth straight CIF state championship. Hoslet, Huntington and Altieri are all seniors. Of course, graduating talented seniors has yet to slow down the Saugus girls cross country team for nearly a decade.

The Saugus boys capped a successful season with a second-place finish in the CIF State Division II meet. AJ Yarnall set a school record and completed the course in Fresno in 15 minutes, 10 seconds.

The Saugus boys finished behind Westlake in the meet.

Golden Valley had a couple reasons to celebrate as well. Bianca Tinoco posted a top-10 effort in the Division II girls race. She was seventh in 18 minutes, 9 seconds. Nolan Del Valle finished his high school career with a 15^th-place finish in the boys Division II race. He completed the course in 15 minutes, 31 seconds.

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For an encore, the Saugus girls cross country and Yarnall are invited to the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Ore., on Saturday. The Saugus girls are making their seventh appearance in the national cross country meet.

Yarnell is making his first trip to the Nike Cross Nationals and is an at-large entry. He was second in the Division II boys race and fifth overall at the CIF State meet in Fresno.

The Saugus girls earned an at-large invitation, one of four available to teams across the country, as well. The Centurions finished in 12^th place at the Nike Cross Nationals last year. They were a top-four team from 2007 to 2010, but have never won the meet. 

Tim Haddock is the sports director at KHTS AM 1220. He writes for the Santa Clarita Gazette, Ventura County Star, the Team USA website and SB Nation. He can be reached by e-mail at tim@hometownstation.com. Follow him on Twitter @thaddock.