Palmdale Surges Past Defenseless Alemany With 40-Point Spree

It looked like a rout from the start. And it was. Trailing by 22 points late in the second quarter, Palmdale High scored 40 unanswered points to defeat Alemany, 46-28, in a nonleague game Friday night at Palmdale.

Turning points? Take your pick:

There was a 55-yard touchdown pass from Palmdale quarterback Cole Speer to the fleet Shannon Culver, who got behind Indian cornerback Gabe Medel just before halftime to make the score 28-12, Alemany.

There was the Falcons’ 80-yard drive to start the second half, capped by Speer’s 1-yard pass to Culver. 28-18, Alemany.

And there was this scenario: Alemany quarterback Joey Rosselli is sacked by blitzing Palmdale linebacker Don Turner. Rosselli leaves for a play and backup Bill Markowitz inherits third and 7. He fumbles the snap, Falcon lineman Mike Schafer recovers, and Palmdale drives for its second touchdown in less than seven minutes. 28-26, Alemany.

And this: Rosselli’s second pass of the half was intercepted by Turner and returned 11 yards to Alemany’s 14. Two plays later, Speer hit Travis Collier on a 13-yard slant for the third Falcon score of the quarter. After a two-point conversion, Palmdale assumed its first lead, 34-28.

Alemany Coach Pat Blackburn voted for the first example.

“That was definitely the turning point,” he said. “It changed the momentum right at the end of the half. And then there were costly turnovers and penalties.

“We came out and felt they had to catch us,” Blackburn added. “We made some classic mistakes.”

Falcon running back LaShante Parker scored on an 8-yard run with 9:14 left, one play after Anthony Florence recovered an Alemany fumble, to make the score 40-28. Palmdale (3-1) finished the flurry with Parker’s 2-yard dash with 39 seconds remaining.

The Indians (3-1) led, 7-0, on Rosselli’s 1-yard keeper with 5:55 left in the first quarter, five plays after Curt Howard recovered Florence’s fumble on the Palmdale fullback’s first carry.

Tyler Robuck, who rushed for a game-high 87 yards, ran over left tackle and cut back to score from 14 yards slightly more than five minutes later to give Alemany a 14-6 advantage.

The Indians scored shortly thereafter, three plays after Matt DeLavigne recovered a fumble on Florence’s second carry. Markowitz, from his usual position at split end, scored with 10:41 remaining in the half on a 17-yard pass from Rosselli that made the score 21-6.

Rosselli tossed his second touchdown pass of the half with 2:10 left, a 7-yarder to receiver Brian McClain.