Buena Park’s McDonald Scores Six Touchdowns

Brian McDonald scored six touchdowns to lead Buena Park to a 41-35 upset victory over previously undefeated La Habra in Freeway League play Friday night at Buena Park High.

McDonald scored four touchdowns rushing, one receiving and one on an interception return but his biggest play of the game was as a defender with 1 minute and 50 seconds left in the game. McDonald stripped La Habra receiver Nick Armstrong of the ball and Felipe Hermosillo recovered on the Buena Park 35 to halt the Highlanders’ late comeback effort.

In fact, the only thing McDonald couldn’t do was complete a pass . . . to a teammate, anyway. His only attempt was intercepted by Armstrong. But on the next play, he redeemed himself, scoring on a 47-yard interception return.

Buena Park (2-5, 1-1 in league) surprised La Habra on its first play from scrimmage when Ruben Gasso hit Brett Strike with a 47-yard pass. McDonald, who gained 193 yards in 19 carries, scored from the three and Gasso ran in a two-point conversion to give the Coyotes an 8-0 lead with 7:04 left in the first quarter.

La Habra (6-1, 1-1) countered with a 53-yard touchdown pass from Robert Morales to Armstrong, but the two-point attempt failed and Buena Park maintained the lead, which it never relinquished.

“We got a little conservative in the second half and it almost cost us,” said first-year Coach Manny Saiz, a former all-county player from La Habra.

In the first half, Buena Park did little wrong, building a 21-point lead and gaining a 35-21 halftime advantage after a one-yard touchdown run by Jesse Giovannetti.

By then, however, McDonald had already scored five touchdowns on runs of three, three and 55 yards as well as a 51-yard reception from Gasso and the interception return.

Gilbert Ramos returned a La Habra interception 34 yards to the Highlander 15 early in the third quarter and McDonald scored on the next play to increase the Buena Park lead to 41-21 with 9:37 left in the third quarter.

La Habra, successful in four fourth-down situations in the game, was stopped on its fifth try when Strike tackled Giovannetti on the four.

The Highlanders went to the air and Morales, who threw for 259 yards and four touchdowns, connected on scoring passes of nine yards to Josh White and 37 yards to Paul Summers, cutting the Coyote lead to six with 7:21 left in the game.

Buena Park was halted on the La Habra 30 with 3:20 left in the game, but McDonald’s decisive defensive play stopped the Highlanders last opportunity to win the game.