La Habra Defense Smothers Bolsa Grande, Scores Twice

A stingy La Habra defense yielded negative rushing yardage, scored twice and intercepted four passes Friday night in a 24-0 victory over Bolsa Grande in a nonleague game at Bolsa Grande High.

Eric Jones dropped Bolsa Grande quarterback Brian Baughman in the end zone for a safety to open the scoring in the first quarter, and fellow defensive tackle Alex Lopez returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown to close it in the fourth.

“That’s the second interception that Alex Lopez has returned for a touchdown in two years,” said La Habra Coach Jack Nicholls, whose team is 1-1.

“We’ve played pretty good defense over the years. They were physical.”

The La Habra defense limited Bolsa Grande to minus 27 yards rushing and forced nine fumbles, but the Matadors recovered all of them. Baughman, however, was not as lucky, throwing the four interceptions while complete just 12 of 31 passes.

Bolsa Grande, which had just one first down in the first half, is 0-2.

Josh Woolf threw seven yards to Steve Busch and Lopez dove over from the one for La Habra’s other touchdowns.