ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL / PREP EXTRA : Fausto Scores Three Times in Los Amigos Victory

After an outstanding junior year, Los Amigos running back Greg Fausto has had a hard time finding yards and the end zone this season behind an inexperienced offensive line.

But Los Amigos quarterback Jake Sanchez had a feeling Fausto would break out of his slump Friday night.

“I saw him at the noon assembly [Friday] and I saw the look in his eyes,” Sanchez said. “He said he wanted the game real bad. So I told coach before the game to give Greg the ball all night.”

Los Amigos Coach Roger Takahashi called Fausto’s number 23 times and Fausto responded with 141 yards and three touchdowns to lead Los Amigos to its biggest victory of the season, a 28-6 triumph over archrival Rancho Alamitos at Garden Grove High.

“Greg’s been there all year, it’s just taken the offensive line a little while to jell,” Takahashi said. “I hear [Rancho Alamitos running back] Leo Kosi’s name a lot in this league. But Greg is just as good as he was last year.”

Fausto looked even quicker than last year. He hit the holes just as they were opening up and once he sprinted into the Rancho Alamitos backfield, there was no catching him.

He scored Los Amigos’ first three touchdowns, the first from 23 yards, the second from 28 yards and the third from seven yards. He would have scored his fourth in the fourth quarter, but he fumbled into the end zone. Teammate David Mejia recovered for a touchdown.

But the night didn’t only belong to Fausto. It also belonged to Los Amigos’ offensive and defensive lines, who dominated the line of scrimmage. The Lobos’ offensive line opened large holes for Fausto and fullback Shaun Tagatauli (six rushes for 47 yards). The defensive line sacked Rancho Alamitos quarterback John Frank seven times for minus 45 yards and pressured him into throwing two interceptions to linebacker Emanuel Ramirez.

“They manhandled us,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case said. “They took care of us up front. The whole night John [Frank] was running for his life. I guess you live by the pass, you die by the pass.”

Takahashi said the lopsided score didn’t surprise him.

“We thought we matched up against them real well,” he said. “We’ve been cleaning up our mental mistakes and tonight the kids didn’t make hardly any.”

Los Amigos’ victory avenges last year’s 28-9 loss to Rancho Alamitos and it moves the Lobos (5-2, 2-1) a half game back of second-place Santiago.