Pallares Continues to Close in on Rushing Mark : Valencia Running Back Gains 190 Yards in 48-0 Victory Over Bolsa Grande

Only 74 yards separates Valencia High School running back Ray Pallares and the all-time Orange County high school rushing record after the senior gained 190 yards in 16 carries Friday night in the Tigers 48-0 victory over Bolsa Grande High School.

A crowd of 1,750 watched as Pallares neared the record in Bradford Stadium in Placentia.

Pallares did not carry the ball after the 4:13 mark in the third quarter and has 4,091 career rushing yards. The record is held by Myron White of Santa Ana Valley High School at 4,164.

Pallares should break the record next Thursday night in Valencia’ Orange League opener against Savanna.

Pallares might have been able to erase the old mark had he played more but Valencia Coach Mike Marrujo chose to pull him. “When the game was won he came out. we did not want to risk injury to him or Tony Goulet,” Marrujo said.

Goulet, the other starting back, gained 113 yards in 13 carries.

Pallares was not bothered by the fact that he might have been able to set the record Friday night. “It does not matter when I break the record,” he said after the game.

Running behind an offensive line that was much larger than the Matadors, Pallares was given huge holes to run through. Pallares got 91 of his yards in only four carries in the second half. His last three runs went for 49, 14 and 23 yards. Only the end zone stopped his final carry.

Pallares scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on runs of seven and one yards to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

The Tigers are 4-1 and and Bolsa Grande is 2-3

Goulet scored four touchdowns in the rout including the final score of the game on a 50-yard pass play from quarterback Jeff Martinez.

While the Tigers were unstoppable on offense, their defense was doing nothing but stopping Bolsa Grande. The Matadors had 28-yards rushing and 44-yards passing. The longest run was a seven yard burst by sophomore running back Travin Lui.

It was the third shut out of the year for the Tigers. Last week in the victory over Troy High School, the Valencia defense allowed only 53 total yards. Bolsa Grande only crossed midfield twice, never getting any closer than the Valencia 41.

Marrujo said his team is right where he wants them to be at this point in the season with the opening Orange League game next week.

“We have improved throughout the preseason and have developed right on schedule,” Marrujo said. The Tigers did make a few mistakes. They were penalized 11 times for 123 yards.

Quarterback Martinez did not have a difficult night, he only passed nine times, completing five.

Valencia had 333 yards rushing and 434 yards in total offense.

Part of the defensive domination came in turnovers. The Matadors gave the ball away five times--two fumbles and three interceptions. Junior defensive back Doren Ester had two interceptions.