Sunny Hills’ Defense Takes Out El Modena

Sunny Hills scored touchdowns the first two times the Lancers handled the ball and it was all they needed to defeat El Modena, 14-0, in nonleague football Friday night at Buena Park High.

The Sunny Hills defense bottled up El Modena’s first drive with losses of eight and one yards and an incomplete pass, forcing the Vanguards to punt. Guy Porter blocked the punt and Sunny Hills recovered on the El Modena 26 to set up the first score.

Adam Rodriguez drove in from the two and Jared Bruce converted the extra-point kick to give Sunny Hills a 7-0 lead with 8:18 left in the first quarter.

El Modena (1-1) had little success the second time it had the ball. On third down, quarterback Cesar Vasquez was hit by two Lancers while scrambling and had to leave the game with sore ribs.

After a punt, Sunny Hills (1-1) took over on its 38. A 29-yard pass from Chris Zeiler to Rodriguez moved the Lancers to the El Modena 37. Two plays later, Kevin Haiola took a handoff and went up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown.

Sunny Hills, which held Kailua Hawaii to 32 yards in the first half in its season opener, improved on that statistic against El Modena, limiting the Vanguards to 15 yards.

El Modena had a chance to score in the fourth quarter, moving 79 yards to the Sunny Hills six. Jeff Burton preserved the shutout by catching Charlie Williams from behind for a two-yard loss.

El Modena’s John Chavez was unsuccessful on field-goal attempts of 55, 50 and 49 yards.

Rodriguez led Sunny Hills with 117 yards rushing and 43 yards receiving. Zeiler connected on seven of nine passes for 74 yards. Sunny Hills limited El Modena to 96 yards for the game.

Matt Garcia completed four of eight passes for 42 yards for El Modena.