GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Rancho Alamitos Scores Every Which Way, Belts Bolsa Grande

They scored on offense. They scored on defense. They scored when they appeared to be just standing around. But in the end, they didn’t score many points with the Bolsa Grande players and coaching staff.

Rancho Alamitos, ranked third in the county, annihilated the Matadors, 61-0, in a Garden Grove League game Thursday night at Bolsa Grande.

The Vaqueros (5-1, 3-0 in league) scored almost at will and even until the last second of the game, a fact that apparently upset Bolsa Grande Coach Gary Stephens, who ordered his team off the field without shaking hands with the Rancho Alamitos players.

That, in turn, rattled Rancho Alamitos Coach Mark Miller, who said he wasn’t trying to run up the score on the Matadors (0-6, 0-3).

“I had a 300-pound sophomore at tailback (in the last few offensive plays),” Miller said. “I only had 23 or 24 kids who suited up. I’m in a no-win situation going into the game.”

The Vaqueros rolled out their potent option attack soon after the opening kickoff and had built a 21-0 lead after one quarter and 34-0 at the half.

Tailback Jeff Byrd, who led all rushers with 150 yards in 16 carries, scored three times and quarterback Marshall Brown added two rushing touchdowns and one on a 30-yard pass play to Kevin Allen.

The rest of the scoring was done by fullback Leon Vickers on a six-yard run, Randy Maldonado on a 55-yard run and an eight-yard return of a blocked punt, and Nestor Alvarez on a four-yard run with no time left in the game.

The score by Alvarez, Rancho Alamitos’ 290-pound center, was the play that seemed to offend the Bolsa Grande coaches the most.

Rancho Alamitos’ output was the team’s second best ever. The Vaqueros beat Magnolia, 74-0, in 1990. But Bolsa Grande is not totally foreign to winning by a big margin. In 1987, the Matadors defeated Kennedy, 48-0, La Quinta, 51-6, and Garden Grove, 41-0.

Bolsa Grande lost linebacker Zach Bustos with what team doctor Steve Graboff described as a broken left ankle.