ORANGE COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL : Shackelford Leads La Habra to Victory
La Habra High School quarterback Matt Shackelford threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score to lead the Highlanders to a 24-13 nonleague victory over Pico Rivera El Rancho Friday night in La Habra Stadium.
La Habra (2-1) scored a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter to hold off the Dons, who had cut the lead to 17-13 with nine minutes remaining.
Shackelford’s 10-yard pass to Linton Weatherspoon with 1:08 remaining provided the final score and caused a lively discussion between the two coaches after the game.
El Rancho Coach Don Peterson was upset that La Habra threw three straight passes from the 10-yard line with less than two minutes left in the game and a four-point lead.
“I was upset about it, and I told him (La Habra Coach Bob Rau) that I thought it was wrong,” Peterson said. “If they run at us and run out the clock, that’s fine.”
Said Rau: “If he’s going to accuse me of running up the score, he’s in another universe.”
La Habra relied on the big play for its scoring. Shackelford scrambled 20 yards for the game’s first touchdown and a 10-0 Highlander lead. Shackelford’s pass to Eric Zimmerman resulted in a 77-yard touchdown play to make it 17-7.
El Rancho (2-1) scored on 22- and 10-yard touchdown passes by quarterback Paul Ulibarri.
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