Santiago Victory Leaves Coach Underwhelmed

Despite Santiago’s 42-16 Garden Grove League victory over La Quinta, Cavalier Coach Ben Haley Jr. couldn’t find much good about his team’s performance Friday at Bolsa Grande.

“We played extremely poor football tonight,” Haley said. “We’ve been pretty banged up, but we played with no emotion and this game feels almost like a loss because of our poor play.”

Santiago (6-3, 4-1 in league) started the scoring eight seconds into the game when La Quinta’s Thi Huyhn was tackled in the end zone on the opening kickoff for a safety. Following the ensuing free kick, Santiago drove 41 yards in nine plays and scored on Victor Martinez’s one-yard run.

The Cavaliers scored on their next series, going 70 yards in five plays with Carlos Carbajal running in from 12 yards to make it 15-0 with 4 minutes 5 seconds left in the first quarter.

La Quinta (2-7, 0-5) scored on a 72-yard touchdown run by Hai Duyen Nguyen with 2:15 left in the first quarter and crept within two points on Nguyen’s second touchdown, a 10-yard run at the beginning of the second quarter.

On its next series, Santiago drove 76 yards in 12 plays, scoring on Octavio Villa’s 18-yard run that made it 22-13 at the half.

After La Quinta’s Daniel Almazan kicked a 24-yard field goal with 2:11 left in the third quarter to make it 22-16, Santiago countered with the first of its three fourth-quarter touchdowns on a 31-yard pass from quarterback Ben Tran to wide receiver Ray Martinez.