Garden Grove Turnovers Aid Rancho Alamitos

Rancho Alamitos might not be the rushing powerhouse it was in former years, but the Vaqueros still had enough passing offense and defense to ruin Garden Grove’s homecoming with a 23-6 Garden Grove League victory Friday night.

Garden Grove (0-5, 0-2) managed to hold the Vaquero running game to 89 yards--50 of those on Moukda Choulamany’s touchdown run late in the fourth quarter--but Rancho Alamitos quarterback John Frank completed 11 of 24 passes for 151 yards and two touchdowns.

Rancho Alamitos (2-2-1, 1-1) was also aided by three first-half Garden Grove turnovers that helped the Vaqueros take a 13-0 halftime lead.

Unable to generate much offense against the Argonaut defense, Rancho Alamitos’ Jimmy Chun got the Vaqueros going when he recovered a muffed punt on the Garden Grove 14-yard-line. On the first play from scrimmage, Frank hit wide receiver Richard Allen with a 14-yard touchdown pass with 10:44 left in the second quarter.

Frank padded the Vaqueros’ lead by engineering a 69-yard second quarter scoring drive. Frank hit Allen with a 21-yard pass, and four plays later hit Manny Metcalf, who outran the Argonaut secondary for a 38-yard scoring play with 7:18 left in the half.

Garden Grove closed the deficit to 13-6 after recovering a muffed punt by Rancho Alamitos on the Vaqueros’ 32. Quarterback David Pixler hit running back Jeff Meyers with an eight-yard touchdown pass, but Mark Hasting’s conversion attempt was blocked.

Rancho Alamitos broke the game open in the fourth quarter on Tony Luce’s 39-yard field goal and Choulamany’s run with 1:54 left in the game.

The Vaqueros’ defense held Garden Grove to 109 yards rushing and 90 yards passing.