EMPIRE FOOTBALL : El Dorado Plays a Big Game of Its Own

While El Dorado and Loara were in drills Thursday night before the teams’ Empire League game at Valencia High, talk had already started about “The Event.”

Some along along the sidelines suggested that maybe Thursday’s crowd of about 500 should just camp overnight to make sure of seats for the Big Game tonight, when Esperanza and Los Alamitos, Orange County’s two top-ranked teams, meet on the same field.

But as warmup acts go, El Dorado’s 30-13 victory over Loara was a good game in its own right.

Junior running back Alex Molnar scored three touchdowns, including two on long fourth-quarter runs, to help the Golden Hawks (7-1, 2-1 in league) defeat Loara (0-8, 0-3).

Molnar, who finished with 182 yards, scored on a three-yard run with four minutes 19 seconds left in the third quarter to put El Dorado ahead, 10-7.

The key to the drive came when El Dorado turned to a trick play. Molnar took a pitch and started around right end, but pulled up and completed a 42-yard pass to wide receiver Jeff Moore for a first down at the Loara 20.

Molnar scored five plays later.

El Dorado went up, 17-7, using more slight-of-hand. El Dorado had a first and goal at the Loara 6, but lost a yard and then was stopped for no gain on second down. On the next play, quarterback Jim Beck scored on a bootleg run with 6:41 left in the game.

Loara mounted a drive but finally turned the ball over when a fourth-down conversion attempt was stopped at the El Dorado 35. Molnar, after gaining two yards on first down, slipped up the middle and broke to the right side line for a 63-yard touchdown run with 2:48 left to play, giving El Dorado a 23-7 lead.

Loara immediately came back to score on a four-yard dive by Denis Dawson with 1:29 left. Quarterback Bill Milligan scrambled for 40 yards to help set up the touchdown. Milligan finished with 91 yards rushing in 11 tries, and Dawson had 84 yards in 23 carries.

Loara tried an on-side kick, but El Dorado’s Nayif Abdullah fell on the ball at his own 48.

It was then Molnar’s time to shine once more.

He took a handoff, started into the middle of the line, then darted outside and went 52 yards for the touchdown.

“We didn’t play like a playoff team,” El Dorado Coach Rick Jones said. “We’re happy we won and we worked hard, but we are capable of playing so much better, and we will.”

El Dorado’s Moore was the leading receiver in the game with five catches for 69 yards. He also intercepted three passes to help slow Loara’s offense.