ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : Western Shuts Out La Quinta

It will count as a victory for Western High School’s football team, but it was one Coach Jim Howell would like to forget quickly. Howell saw his Pioneers grind out a 15-0 victory over La Quinta Friday night in a nonleague game at Handel Stadium.

“We are a better football team than we showed tonight,” Howell said. “La Quinta came to play, and we just flat didn’t.”

Even though the Pioneers (2-1) looked sluggish, the defense recorded its second straight shutout and has allowed only six points this season. La Quinta (0-3) was limited to 83 yards, 11 of them on the ground.

Western received all the offense it needed by scoring on its first drive, which was set up by Miles Roberson’s interception of a pass by La Quinta quarterback Trent Julian. Roberson was tackled immediately after making the interception on the La Quinta 37-yard line.

Six plays later, running back Mahe Liavaa dove over from the one. A two-point conversion pass from Joey Huy to Don Norris followed to give the Pioneers an 8-0 lead.

Running back Craig Morales scored midway through the third quarter on a 12-yard run off left tackle to finish the scoring.

La Quinta replaced starting sophomore quarterback Julian (2 of 9 for 21 yards with one interception) with senior Jeff Anderson at the start of the second quarter. Anderson finished 8 for 18 for 51 yards with one interception.