PREP FOOTBALL : GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE : Allen Hurt in Rancho Alamitos Victory

With his game of the year upcoming next week, Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case was simply looking to get through Thursday night’s game against undermanned La Quinta unscathed.

But Case’s worst nightmare occurred on the next-to-last play of the first quarter when his star running back, Kevin Allen, went down with a sprained right ankle. Victory was never in doubt as Rancho Alamitos rolled over La Quinta, 49-13, at Bolsa Grande High, but Allen’s status for next Friday’s showdown with Los Amigos is.

“I hope it’s just a sprain,” Case said. “We’ll give it some therapy this week and see what happens.”

Rancho Alamitos led, 14-0, and Allen had already scored a touchdown when his ankle gave way on a sweep to the right side.

“I got hit on it right when I was planting,” said Allen, who was unable to put any pressure on his ankle the rest of the night.

Fortunately, Allen wasn’t needed much Thursday. Chris Young, the Vaqueros’ other starting running back, took care of La Quinta almost by himself. He rushed for 138 yards and two touchdowns and scored on a punt that he blocked.

The Vaqueros (3-2, 2-0 in league) also scored on interception returns by linebacker Bill Tevtilmez and sophomore Leo Kosi, who also rushed for 77 yards in 15 carries.

“We tried to get some polish to our offense and I thought we did that,” Case said. “We started running on all cylinders. We would have liked to throw the ball more but it got out of hand early.”

Rancho Alamitos starting quarterback John Frank completed three of three passes for 94 yards and a touchdown to Jeff Turbarg, who also intercepted two passes.

La Quinta starting quarterback Jason Gondringer (one for four, two interceptions) was injured on a rollout early in the second quarter. Junior James Nguyen did a credible job in Gondringer’s absence, completing 11 of 22 passes for 121 yards and two touchdowns.