Vickers Grabs Limelight for the Vaqueros

Before the season began, Rancho Alamitos Coach Mark Miller pointed to junior Jeff Byrd as the next great tailback in a long list of outstanding Vaquero running backs. And Byrd lived up to the billing with 182 yards in last week’s game.

But Thursday night, it was junior fullback Leon Vickers who grabbed the limelight with 119 yards in 13 carries and an exceptional game at safety in a 42-28 nonleague victory by Rancho Alamitos over Costa Mesa in front of 600 at Bolsa Grande High.

Vickers scored on runs of two and 16 yards and added another touchdown after blocking a punt and returning it one yard in a devastating third quarter in which Rancho Alamitos (1-0-1) scored 28 points. Byrd, who rushed for 40 yards in 10 carries, had the remaining touchdown in the period for the Vaqueros on a 63-yard punt return after he escaped from the grasp of two Costa Mesa players.

“The plan was to even it out,” Miller said of the Vaquero offensive plan that called for Vickers to get the ball more often than Byrd out of a split-back veer option.

It worked exceedingly well, but the game, though marred by mistakes on both sides in the first half, was even at the half, 14-14. Rancho Alamitos’ big play of the half was a 90-yard kickoff return by Marshall Brown after Costa Mesa had taken a 14-6 lead on Don Hill’s recovered block punt in the end zone.

Costa Mesa (1-1), however, fell apart after the break. An interception of a Matt Harber pass by Vaquero cornerback Luther Tolbert, a bad snap from center on punt formation that gave Rancho Alamitos the ball at the Mustang 15-yard line and the blocked punt by Vickers buried Costa Mesa.

Costa Mesa running back Fernando Ospina led all rushers in the game with 156 yards in 17 carries. His brother Johnny had 83 yards in 11 carries and three of the Mustang touchdowns, two of them on the ground.