Garden Grove Strikes Early, Blanks La Quinta

If you arrived late at Garden Grove High Thursday night, you missed much of the excitement in the Argonauts’ 27-0 victory over La Quinta.

Ruben Reyna had touchdown runs of 32 and 75 yards in the first seven minutes of the game to give Garden Grove (1-6, 1-3) a 13-0 lead. Troy Haller, making his first start at quarterback, hooked up with Chase Hamm for 28 yards on the opening play of the game to set up the first touchdown. Dan Amosa was a key contributor on defense. All four are sophomores who picked up their first varsity victory Thursday.

“With Troy at quarterback, we’re playing 11 sophomores a significant amount of time,” Garden Grove Coach Jeff Buenafe said.

La Quinta gave their fans some thrills early, too. Steve Rhee picked off a pass at the Argonaut 7 to stop one drive, and Garden Grove held the Aztecs for four downs inside the Argonaut 1-yard line midway through the second quarter. La Quinta netted only 49 yards in offense the rest of the night, with Jason Gondringer being sacked seven times.