El Modena Is Back, Rips Villa Park

Still smarting after having its 13-game winning streak snapped by Foothill High School last week, El Modena came back Friday night to defeat Villa Park, 41-10, in Century League play in Fred Kelly Stadium.

Junior Ross Bauer paced El Modena with 138 yards rushing on 15 carries in a little more than one half. Bauer scored three touchdowns, giving him 11 for the season. He scored on runs of 19- and 20-yards and on a 67-yard interception return.

El Modena quarterback Chris Gallego, a senior, also had a fine outing. He connected on 7 of 10 passes, including his first five in a row, for 160 yards and two TDs. Gallego was 6 of 7 in the first half for 115 yards. He didn’t throw an incomplete pass until there were only 32 seconds left in the half, and that was one he threw out of bounds intentionally to stop the clock.

With the win El Modena, the third-ranked team in Orange County, upped its overall record to 5-1 and its league mark to 2-1. The loss dropped Villa Park to 4-2 and 2-1, while snapping the Spartans’ own four-game winning streak.

“It felt good to win after that losing streak,” deadpanned El Modena coach Bob Lester. “They were small for a Villa Park team and just couldn’t handle our big people.”

Lester said the Vanguards didn’t do much different in the aftermath of the loss to Foothill. “But the coaches were a little closer to the players this week, if you get my meaning. We got to know each other a little better,” he said.

Gallego and his receivers apparently got to know each other better, as well. After having several passes dropped last week, Gallego saw his receiving corps hang on to almost everything he put up Friday. “It helps to have some boys catching the ball,” Lester said. “Chris is potentially one of the finest quarterbacks around. He’s tall, he’s got a live arm and wants to be good.”

His first touchdown came on a 19-yard pass play, when he hit John Thompson on a slant pattern. That came after a 13-yard scoring strike to Darren DeFeo was called back because of a holding penalty. DeFeo got that one back two minutes later, scoring on a 35-yard pass play with 25 seconds remaining in the first half to give El Modena a 27-3 lead at the break.