Alemany Breezes to 20-3 Win

How badly did Alemany beat the St. Bernard Vikings on Friday night?

Well, the score was 20-3. Playing at St. Bernard, Alemany dominated the Vikings on offense, defense and special teams. St. Bernard held a raffle at halftime, and Alemany dominated that, too. An Indian fan walked off with $88.

More important to Alemany Coach Enrique Lopez, his team walked off with its first win after playing Los Banos to a 25-25 tie last week.

“This is definitely a feather in our caps,” Lopez said. “We beat a good team tonight.”

Alemany won with a balanced offense. Quarterback Roy Talavera completed 7 of 15 passes for 120 yards and 1 touchdown. Running back Ray Campuzano rushed 16 times for 125 yards and Alemany’s other two scores.

St. Bernard played without first-string quarterback Calvin Maspero, who was sidelined because of an ankle injury. So Alemany was king of the beach at Playa del Rey, where St. Bernard plays its home games just a Frisbee toss from the Pacific Ocean.

Wide receiver Eric Nelson started at quarterback for the Vikings. The 6-5, 200-pound senior is a Division I prospect as a wide receiver. But a quarterback he’s not. He completed 8 of 23 passes for 50 yards and scrambled for 12 yards.

Surprisingly, the Vikings started strongly, driving 50 yards on their first possession. St. Bernard’s Rod Landis turned those yards into points, kicking a 42-yard field goal that bounced over the crossbar.

But that was all the scoring the Vikings could manage. Their run-and-shoot offense needs to be a fine-tuned machine. Throwing a new quarterback into it is like throwing a wrench into an engine.

Alemany, meanwhile, found its timing after a sluggish start and scored twice in the second quarter. The first came on a 23-yard pass from Talavera to Vince Ferry. Several minutes later, Campuzano carried over from the 2 to cap a 10-play, 80-yard drive.

“We just decided to play football,” Campuzano said.

The final score came in the third quarter when Campuzano finished a 6-play, 50-yard drive with an 8-yard run.

The Vikings had several chances to make the game close, but two lost fumbles scuttled scoring drives.