Los Amigos Goes to the Air for a Change

He’ll never be called “Air Takahashi,” but at least for one night, Los Amigos Coach Roger Takahashi could not be confused with “Ground Chuck.”

The normally run-happy Takahashi had his quarterbacks throw a season-high 22 passes Friday night in a 33-6 victory over Garden Grove.

The victory clinched a playoff berth for the Lobos (6-3, 4-1) and left them in a second-place tie with Santiago.

Senior Thong Nguyen was not spectacular--completing eight of 20 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown--but he gave the Lobos’ future opponents something to think about.

“That was the idea,” Takahashi said. “Get them some reps. I’m thinking when we get in tough situations, we can air out the ball.”

Nguyen’s statistics actually might have been a little more respectable had his receivers not dropped four passes. Nguyen has started the last two games after junior Javier Acevez started the first seven.

“We’re going with Thong for the rest of the year,” Takahashi said. “He gives us more speed on the outside and he throws a better ball. He’s also a year older.”

Los Amigos was able live off the ground game for seven weeks but Lobo running backs were stopped cold last week by Rancho Alamitos during a 32-16 loss.

Next week, Los Amigos plays Santiago for second place in the Garden Grove League. Rancho Alamitos (9-0, 5-0) has already clinched the league title.

“Santiago’s going to be a formidable opponent,” Takahashi said. “We’re going to have to be balanced. After Rancho, I realized we needed to have more diversity. Our running game last week wasn’t enough to get it done.”

Friday, Los Amigos’ defense got it done in the first half. They intercepted three Rick Welty passes and set up two of the Lobos first three touchdowns.

Los Amigos’ first interception came on Garden Grove’s first play from scrimmage. Justin Kingman stepped in front of a hurried Welty pass and returned the ball to Garden Grove’s six. Halfback Najja Kee (64 yards in 13 carries) scored his first of three touchdowns on the next play by taking a handoff and running untouched into the end zone.

Acevez had the Lobos’ second interception and Andrew Niumata had the third.

“Their quarterback was under a lot of pressure and he made some misreads,” Takahashi said. “That’s a credit to our defensive front.”

Los Amigos led 26-0 at halftime and held Garden Grove scoreless for 45 minutes. After being denied twice inside Los Amigos’ 10 yard-line, Garden Grove (1-8, 1-4) finally punched the ball into the end zone on a 21-yard pass play from Welty to Ulysses Linares.

Nguyen’s touchdown pass came in the third quarter on a 24-yard pass over the middle to fullback Shaun Tagatauli. In addition to throwing for 116 yards, Nguyen ran nine times for 44 yards.