Sluggish Los Alamitos Blanks El Dorado

Los Alamitos High School came into Thursday’s Empire League game against El Dorado with seven victories, seven more than El Dorado. So it came as no surprise that the Griffins, ranked fourth in Orange County, defeated El Dorado at Valencia High.

What was a bit odd was the score: 28-0.

“Twenty-eight points, I think that’s enough.” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. But this was a game that heavily favored Los Alamitos led only 14-0 at the half, against an El Dorado team that had been outscored 269-19 this season.

Los Alamitos (4-0, 8-1) gained its yards, 398 of them in total offense, but usually was stopped either by itself or the El Dorado defense. Barnes admitted that the game was, “not one of our best,” and placed some of the responsibility on a lackluster team attitude.

“This was the first week of practice that we weren’t screaming and yelling,” he said. There was really never any doubt about the game’s outcome. Los Alamitos was clearly the better team, but it didn’t score its first touchdown until 14 seconds were left in the first quarter. That came off a 24-yard drive that was set up by a Sean Hooker interception. LaQuan Beckton capped the drive with a three-yard scoring run. Beckton replaced starting tailback Erik Mitchell, who injured his ankle in the first half. Beckton gained 87 yards in 18 carries.

Los Alamitos’ next two drives got into El Dorado territory, but both ended--one on an interception and the other when a fourth-down play failed. Los Alamitos got the ball back with 1:10 remaining and on its second play quarterback Todd Gragnano, who completed 13 of 23 passes for 181 yards, completed a 60-yard pass to Chad Millan for a touchdown.