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Garden Grove Looks Strong in Victory

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

It had taken the Garden Grove football team a week to erase the memory. To block out all the bad blocks and exorcise the missed tackles.

When it was over, the Argonauts were back on their feet and walking all over Kennedy for a 33-0 victory Thursday night at Garden Grove High School.

“It’s still early in the season and there are still goals this team can reach,” Coach Jeff Buenafe said. “We got a fresh start tonight.”

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It certainly was cleaner than their previous performance. The Argonauts, the defending league champions, were humbled by Rancho Alamitos, 43-13.

The loss was humiliating enough. The physical toll was worse.

The Argonauts lost three starters and three key reserves.

“We just wanted the kids to put that game behind them,” Buenafe said.

Kennedy, though, did not appear to be the type of team one gets healthy on. The Fighting Irish (2-2-1, 0-1-1) featured the 1-2 punch of quarterback John Guthrie and running back Arraceion Mobley.

Neither knew what hit them.

Garden Grove (3-2, 1-1) overwhelmed Kennedy, limiting it to no yards rushing and 96 yards in all. On offense, the Argonauts kept it simple.

They didn’t attempt one pass. Instead, they put the ball--and their chances--in the hands of running back Jim Sebreros, who finished with 143 yards and scored four touchdowns.

“We gave Jim the ball and let him worry about it,” quarterback Brian Schneider said.

While Schneider spent most of the night handing off on offense, he took center stage on defense.

He intercepted two Guthrie passes, returning one 68 yards to set up a touchdown.

Guthrie, who had completed 56% of his passes coming into the game, was seven of 27 for 96 yards. He had four passes picked off.

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“We were just trying to get people flying to the ball,” Buenafe said. “We wanted to get our defensive backs all over their receivers.”

When not harassing the passing lanes, the Argonauts were converging on Mobley. He finished with only 11 yards in eight carries.

“Our defense was getting wound up all week,” Schneider said.

Things went badly for Kennedy from the start.

Sebreros returned the opening kickoff 48 yards. He then capped the drive, slipping through three tacklers for a 28-yard touchdown run.

He also scored on runs of one, two and 12 yards.

“I went to the coaches and asked to carry the ball more tonight,” said Sebreros, who had 26 attempts. “I wanted to get is going again after last week.”

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