Undefeated Vaqueros Roll Over Argonauts

Rancho Alamitos running back Leo Kosi rushed for 266 yards and five touchdowns in a 40-22 victory over host Garden Grove, leading the Vaqueros to their first undefeated regular season in school history.

Rancho Alamitos (10-0, 6-0 in league), which won its first outright league title since 1992, will advance to the Division VIII playoffs. Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case is hoping for a favorable seeding.

“We’re looking at hopefully a two or three seed,” Case said. “We feel we’re firing on all cylinders right now and we’ve hit our first set of goals by going undefeated and being league champs. The ultimate goal is CIF champions.”

The Vaqueros scored on their first series after Ralph Akaria recovered a Garden Grove fumble at the Argonauts’ 33-yard line. Kosi scored on 33-yard sweep for the first of his five touchdowns.

Kosi scored again 2 1/2 minutes later on another 33-yard run. Teammate David Vickers scored on a 15-yard run with 4 minutes 59 seconds left in the half for a 21-0 Rancho Alamitos lead.

After Kosi’s third touchdown, a one-yard run in the third quarter, Garden Grove (1-9, 1-5) got on the board on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Rick Welty to Ulysses Linares.

Kosi added two fourth quarter touchdowns on runs of 15 and four yards.

Garden Grove’s Daniel Do rushed for a career-high 158 yards in 16 carries.