Granada Hills’ Landress Ages Quickly in Win

It all came down to the play of a couple of fuzzy-cheeked but game sophomores.

And what a game they made.

Granada Hills High sophomore quarterback Jim Landress led the Highlanders to the game-winning touchdown and conversion with 1 minute 36 seconds left to salvage a 14-12 victory over host Taft in a key Northwest Valley Conference football game Friday night.

Landress threw a pair of scoring passes and took the team on a 13-play drive for the tying score, hitting running back Tremain Foriest from 12 yards. Landress then hit Foriest for the two-point conversion to break a 12-12 tie.

“Man, I’m having fun and feeling good,” said Landress, who completed nine of 13 passes for 93 yards. “This is a great feeling.”

Landress picked an opportune time to shine: He entered the game having thrown just two scoring passes.

The game-winning drive let the air out of Taft’s balloon and blew holes in a superior effort by sophomore tailback Jerry Brown.

Brown carried 23 times for 153 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but in the end he and Taft were outdone by Landress.

“Our 10th-graders came through, and their 10th-graders were awesome,” Granada Hills co-Coach Tom Harp said. “The next couple of years should be very interesting.”

Taft (5-4, 3-3 in league play) took a 12-6 lead in the second quarter on a five-yard run by Brown, but quarterback Mike Ferguson was stopped inches short of the goal line on a two-point conversion try. Taft, though, nearly made the lead stand up.

Taft seemed poised to ice the game in the fourth quarter when a drive stalled at the Highlander 15-yard line. However, Ferguson missed a 32-yard field-goal attempt with 7:17 left, and Landress took over.

On the game-winning, 80-yard drive, Landress completed three of five for 40 yards and capped the series by hitting Foriest, who lined up in the slot, on a quick slant pattern.

Landress, too, is looking forward to more memorable battles with Brown.

“He’s a great athlete,” Landress said. “It should be fun.”

Taft took a 6-0 lead in the first quarter on a 15-yard run by Brown, who ran for 117 yards in the first half.

Granada Hills (5-4, 5-1) countered with a nine-yard pass from Landress to Faio Emelio to tie the score, 6-6, with 7:20 left in the half.