PREP FOOTBALL : Empire League : Miscione Runs Well (216 Yards); Esperanza Wins Ugly, 35-6

Mike Miscione gained 216 yards.

That’s just about all the nice stuff that can be said about Esperanza High School’s 35-6 Empire League victory over Katella Thursday night at Glover Stadium in Anaheim.

Miscione, who gained 348 yards and 4 touchdowns last week against El Dorado, scored four more touchdowns against Katella.

The Aztecs (4-1-1, 7-1-1) played what Coach Gary Meek called “sloppy football.”

He was being kind. At times, the game was downright ugly.

Esperanza fumbled three times in the first half, but the Katella offense gained only 10 yards rushing during the same span and could not capitalize on any of the turnovers.

Esperanza also incurred six penalties in the first half for 62 yards.

“I think it’s pretty clear we played bad in the first half,” Meek said. “I thought Katella’s line dominated us.”

Esperanza scored the only touchdown of the first half on a 12-yard pass from Mike Moneymaker to tight end Bob Conner.

Moneymaker completed 6 of 15 passes for 85 yards. His counterpart, Katella’s Jeff Yourstone completed 11 of 26 for 130 yards and threw one interception.

Katella (1-4, 3-6) attempted an onside kick to open the second half, but Esperanza retained possession. After three carries by Miscione gained 48 yards, Miscione scored on a three-yard run.

He would later score on runs of five, nine and five yards. What made Miscione’s statistics even more impressive is that he rushed for only 69 yards in the first half.

Katella’s only touchdown came when Todd Muzi picked up a bouncing punt, picked up a wall of blockers and ran 84 yards for the score.

In the other Empire League game:

Cypress 14, El Dorado 0--Blaise Bryant rushed for 206 yards on 40 attempts and scored 2 touchdowns as the Centurions kept their playoff hopes alive in front of 850 people at Handel Stadium.

Bryant scored on runs of one and two yards in the first half and that was all the offense Cypress (3-3, 5-4) needed.

El Dorado (2-4, 2-7) was shut down offensively and did not cross the 50-yard line until early in the second half. Quarterback Doug Yates (11 of 21, 138 yards) drove the Golden Hawks inside the Cypress 15-yard line late in the game on three consecutive completions for 70 yards but failed to score.

Cypress controlled the game on the ground and attempted only three passes, compared to 58 rushing attempts.