San Fernando Floods End Zone, 42-0

El Camino Real High faced the same predicament Friday night as the storied boy with his finger in the dike: If the Conquistadore defense couldn’t plug the line of scrimmage, San Fernando’s blurry-fast running backs threatened to pour through like a flood.

In the end, San Fernando, like a force of nature, could not be stopped, winning, 42-0, at home in a Northwest Valley Conference opener.

The most slippery Tiger was LaKarlos Townsend, who ran 11 times for 119 yards and two touchdowns, caught a 35-yard touchdown pass and returned a punt 67 yards for a score.

“I’m like, ‘Are these guys going to tackle me or do they just want to go home?’ ” said Townsend, who bounced and spun through six tacklers on his final, 11-yard touchdown run.

Backfield mate Johnnie Brown did some running of his own, rushing eight times for 94 yards. Quarterback Leon Blunt completed four of nine passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns.

Meanwhile, El Camino Real was held to 107 yards in offense. Running back Andy Hasson rushed 14 times for 66 yards. Quarterback Evan Howland completed only one of 12 for six yards and threw an interception.

And the score could have been even more lopsided. Townsend had punt returns of 52 and 90 yards--the latter for a touchdown--nullified because of penalties.

El Camino Real made mistakes from the start. On the game’s second play, Jeff Astgen fumbled and San Fernando’s Lennie Avalos recovered deep in Conquistadore territory. Four plays later, Blunt threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dwight McDuff for a 7-0 lead.

Still the Conquistadores struggled to stem the tide with tough defense and a time-consuming ground game. But their dam broke midway through the second quarter when Townsend broke around right end for a 49-yard touchdown run.

On the Tigers’ next possession, Brown went up the middle then cut left and left El Camino Real’s secondary grabbing at air. He rambled 44 yards for another score and San Fernando led, 21-0, at halftime.

The second half belonged exclusively to Townsend. In the third quarter, he caught a touchdown pass and returned a punt for a touchdown. With nine minutes remaining, he ran for his final score.

It was San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez’s 60th career victory.