PREP FOOTBALL / GARDEN GROVE LEAGUE : Santiago Gets Relief in Come-From-Behind Victory

Call it just a bad case of nerves, or perhaps the flu. Santiago running back Carlos Carbajal wasn’t feeling like himself Thursday night in the Garden Grove League opener against Garden Grove.

The 5-foot-8 junior vomited before the game, again at halftime and for a while lost the feeling in his hands.

“He had a numbness,” Cavalier Coach Ben Haley said. “He couldn’t hold the ball. He fumbled and he felt just terrible.”

Enter Victor Martinez and Octavio Villa. Martinez’s three-yard run with 8 minutes 44 seconds to go in the game helped Santiago rally to a 16-15 victory in front of 500 spectators at Garden Grove High.

Martinez rushed only 10 times for 31 yards and Villa added 51 yards in 14 carries. Both got the crucial yardage the team needed.

Then the Cavaliers (3-1, 1-0 in league) turned to Carbajal, who got stronger as he went on in the second half. He finished with 143 yards in 25 carries and in the final drive of the game, which ended on the Garden Grove five-yard line, carried eight times for 64 yards, including a 28-yard burst off tackle on an inside slant.

Garden Grove (0-4, 0-1) played well enough to win, but like other games this season, found a way to lose.

“It takes four quarters to win a football game and we have not been able to put together four quarters all year,” Garden Grove Coach Ralph Stevens said. “We seem to shoot ourselves in the foot one way or another.”

The Argonauts came roaring back from a 10-point halftime deficit and dominated the third quarter after managing only 44 yards of total offense in the first half. Brian Jones returned a punt 30 yards to the Cavalier 29-yard line on the Argonauts’ opening possession in the second half and three players later, Kevin Griswold took a short swing pass from quarterback Troy Haller and raced around left end for a 17-yard touchdown.

The Argonauts took a 15-10 lead about six minutes later. Running back Daniel Do attacked the right side of the Cavalier defense again, this time for a 12-yard touchdown run, and Haller fooled the Cavaliers by taking the snap on a fake kick for the point after touchdown and passing two yards for two points to Daniel Sanchez.