No. 8 Locke Fumbles It Away to Bell, 30-0

Bell High Coach Ray Galarze wasn’t surprised his team upset Locke, 30-0, Friday in a City Southeastern Conference game at Locke. He wasn’t even surprised by the shutout. What did surprise Galarze was how well his offense performed.

“We were confident we could win, but not by this kind of a score,” Galarze said after the Eagles improved to 5-2-1 overall and 5-2 in the conference. “Locke is a very good team, but we capitalized on a lot of their mistakes and our offense did very well.”

Locke, the Times’ eighth-ranked team, aided Bell’s offense by committing five second-half turnovers. The Eagles, with good field position for most of the final two quarters, scored 20 points to increase a 10-0 halftime lead.

Bell running back Armando Lara rushed for 151 yards in 24 carries and one touchdown. The Eagles totaled 382 yards in offense, 280 on the ground.

“Our offensive line and the fullback were blowing (the Saints) off the line all day,” said Lara, whose seven-yard touchdown run in the third quarter gave the Eagles a 23-0 lead. “They were opening the biggest holes I’ve ever seen. All I had to do was run through them.”

Bell limited Locke (6-2, 4-2) to 147 yards in offense. Saint quarterback Bobby Savanna completed eight of 21 passes for 83 yards, including one interception. He also committed a fumble that led to the Eagle’s final touchdown--a seven-yard run by Valente Marshall. Marshall finished with 57 yards in 10 carries and two touchdowns.

“Our game plan was to go right at them at the line of scrimmage and beat them up front,” Galarze said. “We worked all week on our trap blocking and the offensive line played very well. And Lara had his best game of the year.”

Bell drove 66 yards in seven plays for its first touchdown. Marshall capped the drive with a seven-yard run.

The Eagles increased their lead to 10-0 with 9:48 left in the second quarter when Jose Rodriguez kicked a 30-yard field goal.

Bell scored on its first possession of the third quarter, using a nine-play, 39-yard drive that featured eight consecutive rushes. The final play, however, was a five-yard scoring pass from quarterback Gilbert Garcia to Milton Bohorquez.