Rancho Alamitos Hits It Big, 74-0

The Rancho Alamitos High School football team, which has been oh-so-close to the Southern Section playoffs the past three seasons, sent a message to the rest of the Garden Grove League Thursday night.

Judging by the Vaqueros’ 74-0 rout of Magnolia, they don’t plan to be denied this season.

Rancho Alamitos (3-0) equalled the third-highest point total in Orange County history, tying Whittier Christian, which defeated Brethren, 74-0, in 1989. The county record is held by Fullerton, which beat Anaheim, 109-0, in 1921. Brea-Olinda defeated Capistrano, 75-0, in 1961.

“We’ll let the kids enjoy this tonight, but starting tomorrow we’ll let them know that it doesn’t mean anything,” Vaquero Coach Mark Miller said. “League (play) starts next week, and everyone is winless.”

In each of the past three seasons, the Vaqueros needed only to win their final league game to qualify for the playoffs. Each time, they lost to a team that was out of the race.

This season, Rancho Alamitos will enter league play as the favorite. The Vaqueros, who haven’t been to the playoffs since 1982, are off to their best start since 1987, when they won their first three games--including a 60-0 victory over Savanna.

However, the Vaqueros finished 6-4 that season and missed the playoffs.

“There are three seasons--nonleague, league and playoffs,” Miller said. “We’ve just finished season No. 1, there are two more to go.”

But the Vaqueros finished it in style, with an offensive extravaganza.

Rancho Alamitos had 401 yards rushing and 599 total yards.

Both Ulysses Taammell and Mario Gonzalez had more than 100 yards rushing. Taammell had 145 yards in 17 carries and scored three touchdowns. Gonzalez had 114 yards rushing, including a 67-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Third-string tailback Jeff Byrd had 80 yards rushing and scored two touchdowns, one on a 61-yard run.

Quarterback Chris Singletary was nine of 14 for 198 yards and one touchdown. He also scored a touchdown on a two-yard run.

The Vaqueros scored on nine of their 10 possessions and twice when their offense didn’t have the ball.

Luther Tolbert returned an interception 62 yards for a score just before halftime to give Rancho Alamitos a 41-0 lead.