Glendale’s Gold-Medal Performance Dazzles West Los Angeles, 51-0

The football game Saturday between Glendale College and West Los Angeles was over almost as fast as you could say Ben Johnson.

Glendale sprinted to a 38-0 halftime lead en route to 51-0 thumping of the Oilers in the Western State Conference opener for both schools at Glendale High.

Glendale (2-0 overall, 1-0 in conference play) looked every bit as good as last year’s team, which tied Bakersfield for the WSC title. Meanwhile, West L. A. (0-2, 0-1) looked like a team which hasn’t played for two years.

Which it is. West L. A. did not compete in football the past two seasons because of budget cuts.

“Our defense was too physically dominant for them to get anything going,” Glendale Coach Jim Sartoris said.

Indeed, the swarming Vaquero defense limited West L. A. to 78 yards in total offense. Oiler quarterback Timothy Gardner was sacked 4 times and completed just 9 of 28 passes for 100 yards.

The West L. A. ground game was even less effective, rushing 14 times for minus-22 yards.

“Our line didn’t block at all.” Oiler Coach Richard Jones said.

The Glendale defense and special teams provided the Vaquero offense with good field position throughout the game.

“Our offense did some things well but I’m not sure you can use this game as a true gauge of how good we were,” Sartoris said. “I’m not ready to say, ‘Yeah, we got a great offense.’ ”

West L. A. might disagree.

Glendale scored 3 touchdowns and kicked a field goal in its first 4 possessions and led 31-0 at the end of the first quarter.

The Vaqueros finished with 329 yards in total offense. Starting quarterback Keith Fitzgerald completed 5 of 14 passes for 116 yards, including a 43-yard touchdown pass to Brian Kaloustian. Fitzgerald also ran for a score.

Backup quarterback Darren Fitzgerald completed 6 of 8 passes for 105 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to David Notolli. He was intercepted twice.

Sean Hampton, who played at Sylmar High and transferred to Glendale from Hawaii, led all rushers with 105 yards in 12 carries. Doug Dragomer (24 yards in 3 carries) rushed for 2 touchdowns and Ernie Mathis and Torace Ragland each scored a touchdown.