Riddle Rushes On as Rancho Alamitos Runs Past Garden Grove

Dana Riddle, the Orange County rushing leader, will carry the ball as many times as it takes to win as long as he’s healthy, Rancho Alamitos Coach Mark Miller says.

It took 43 carries Thursday night--two out of every three Rancho Alamitos plays--as Riddle rushed for 208 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Vaqueros to a 19-7 Garden Grove League victory over Garden Grove.

Rancho Alamitos (4-4, 3-2) outgained Garden Grove 191 yards to 50 in the first half, making 11 first downs to the Argonauts’ two. But scoring was a different story. The Vaqueros trailed, 7-6 at halftime.

“We’ve got to do everything the hard way,” Miller said. “When we lost to Santiago (last week) we had 285 to their 84 yards.” Garden Grove (3-5, 1-4) scored the game’s first points off a turnover, the only blemish on Riddle’s performance. On Rancho’s second possession, Riddle fumbled and Garden Grove’s Tim Silva recovered at the Vaquero 42. Five plays later, Garden Grove had a 7-0 lead after quarterback Darrell Rall, in his second start replacing Bob Ioja, hit Joe Squyres with a seven-yard touchdown pass. The big play in the drive was Riddle’s 29-yard run.

Rancho Alamitos, which controlled the ball most of the game, then mounted a 17-play, 80-yard, seven-minute drive that culminated with a one-yard touchdown run by--Who else?--Riddle. Rancho Alamitos failed on a two-point conversion attempt--another run by Riddle.

Rancho Alamitos mounted another long drive, this one 61 yards. Riddle carried on nine of the drive’s 11 plays for 58 yards including a 5-yard touchdown run.

Rancho Alamitos scored again in the fourth when Dan Olivo found Eric Moore (three catches, 63 yards) for a 25-yard touchdown play.