Allen, Rancho Alamitos Run Over Sierra Vista

It took Baldwin Park Sierra Vista all of one play to realize its 11-0 record didn’t stack up against the quickness of Rancho Alamitos tailback Kevin Allen.

Allen, a 5-foot-8, 155-pound junior, broke through the line of scrimmage and sprinted 62 yards down the sideline before being caught by Sierra Vista cornerback Guy Horcasitas. Top-seeded Sierra Vista never did catch Rancho Alamitos Friday night, losing, 28-13, in the Southern Section Division VII quarterfinals at Bolsa Grande High.

Unseeded Rancho Alamitos (8-3-1) will play unseeded Arroyo Grande (6-5) Friday night in the Division VII semifinals.

Sierra Vista’s defense was no match for Allen, who rushed for 254 yards on 24 carries and two touchdowns. If Allen wasn’t flying around the end on a sweep, he was maneuvering his way behind his lineman inside the tackles. Only once was Allen stopped for no gain, and that was because he tripped himself.

“We knew we could get outside on them and Kevin can run outside with the best of them,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case said.

Horcasitas couldn’t agree more.

“We didn’t expect him to be as fast as he was,” Horcasitas said. “Our defensive line wasn’t up to it (Friday). He knew how to run. He hid behind his blockers well.”

On Allen’s first touchdown run, an 18-yarder, he squeezed through a hole inside the guards, ran through two arm tackles and sprinted into the end zone.

His second touchdown, a 76-yarder, was all speed. Allen flew around left end into Sierra Vista’s secondary, then received a crunching block from his brother, Richard Allen, at the 10 and high-stepped into the end zone.

By halftime, Allen had run for 203 yards and two touchdowns in 14 carries, and Rancho Alamitos led, 21-7.

“The pitch wasn’t working that well, but the power was there all night tonight,” said Allen, who had 211 yards in 21 carries last week against Troy. “The holes were big and the lineman did a great job.”

Allen didn’t do it by himself, though. Sophomore quarterback John Frank passed for 135 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

“We figured we could throw on them,” Case said. “From the films, we could see they hadn’t seen a whole lot of passing teams.”

Sierra Vista kept Allen off the field most of the second half, as it controlled the ball with a ground attack, but it was only able to score once, with 1 minute 36 seconds left in the game.

The Vaqueros scored their only touchdown of the second half on a Allen to Jeff Turbarg, 38-yard floater that somehow eluded two Sierra Vista defensive backs.

“My primary receiver was covered, so I just threw it up,” Allen said. “It got there.”