GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Garden Grove Dominates Bolsa Grande

Garden Grove High started its Garden Grove League schedule in impressive fashion Thursday night with a 48-0 rout of Bolsa Grande.

The Argonauts (2-2, 1-0) dominated every facet of the game, controlling the clock and turning four first-half turnovers by the Matadors into two touchdowns and two field goals.

After the teams exchanged punts to start the game, Bolsa Grande (1-3, 0-1) had trouble handling the ball. The Matadors fumbled 10 times, losing five. Three of those five came on consecutive offensive plays in the first quarter. The Bolsa Grande defense held tough on the first two occasions, forcing Garden Grove to settle for field goals of 22 and 27 yards by sophomore Ryan Cleary.

After the third fumble recovery, Argonaut quarterback Troy Haller connected with Brian Jones on a 48-yard scoring pass and Garden Grove led 13-0 with 1 minute 25 seconds left in the first quarter.

Three plays into the next Matador possession, Garden Grove got the ball back on another fumble, and Haller found Gerardo Lopez two plays later for a 39-yard touchdown pass and a 20-0 lead. The two first-half touchdowns were Haller’s only completions of the night. The Argonauts gained all but 98 of their 311 yards total offense on the ground.

After leading 27-0 at halftime, Garden Grove put the game away with two third-quarter touchdowns before the offense ever took the field. Ruben Reyna returned the second-half kickoff 90 yards for a score, and two minutes later, Lopez returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown and a 41-0 lead.