Garden Grove Continues to Roll; La Quinta Flattened

Derek Smith’s 73-yard touchdown run on the game’s first play set the tone as host Garden Grove High School rolled to a 37-10 victory over La Quinta in Garden Grove League play Thursday night.

Garden Grove (5-0, 2-0 in league) amassed 407 yards rushing in becoming the school’s first team since 1965 to open a season with five consecutive victories. Smith (156 yards) and teammate Brian Rall (133 yards) were the top rushers for the Argonauts.

It was no secret that Garden Grove’s game plan was to run the ball. The Argonauts were down to their third-string quarterback, Brian Schneider, so a passing attack was out of the question.

Further, Garden Grove’s ground game was fairly predictable. It seemed whichever side of the line that bruising tight end Adrian Ioja lined up, Garden Grove ran in that direction. Ioja repeatedly opened the holes for Smith and Rall and was also impressive on defense, sacking La Quinta quarterback Kenny Granger twice.

La Quinta (2-3, 1-1) managed only 47 yards rushing and more than half of Granger’s 139 yards passing came on two long plays as Garden Grove contained the Aztecs all evening. La Quinta Coach Roger Takahashi said he was surprised by the outcome.

“They picked up their game a notch and this was a whole new step for them,” Takahashi said. “I was very surprised. Ioja was a man among boys out there.”

Both teams had scored before the game was three minutes old, but Garden Grove had the victory clinched early in the second quarter. Smith had 83 yards rushing and Rall 76 in the first quarter and it was apparent that La Quinta couldn’t stop the duo.

Jason Baca gave Garden Grove a 27-7 lead early in the third quarter when he scored on a 52-yard flanker reverse. Garden Grove’s defense dominated play in the second half with two key turnovers and a couple sacks.

Ioja sacked Granger for losses of 13 and 10 yards and teammates Doug Pluard and Brandon Hoalton intercepted passes to finish off La Quinta.

“It was nice to see everyone rise to the occasion,” said Garden Grove Coach Jeff Buenafe, who has completed a rebuilding project in his fourth season. “We worked on the running game this week, and were fortunate to spring one on that first play.

“I’m happy with the way our line executed and Adrian’s blocking. He’s starting to come around after a slow start. I think he was trying to do too much early on because so much was expected of him.”