This Bolsa Grande Rout Takes Fight Out of La Quinta

Bolsa Grande and La Quinta still aren’t on the best of terms, but at least they finished their game this year.

There were some hard feelings at the end, when Bolsa Grande scored two late touchdowns, but there were no major incidents in the Matadors’ 49-10 victory Thursday night at Bolsa Grande High.

Bolsa Grande quarterback Doug Baughman set a Southern Section and state passing record in last year’s game with a 569-yard effort. Baughman’s gaudy numbers and the lopsided score infuriated La Quinta’s players, and fights began breaking out. Eventually, the referees called the game late in the fourth quarter, with Bolsa Grande leading, 53-23.

Thursday, Baughman settled for 286 yards and five touchdowns on 12 completions in 28 attempts. He threw his last touchdown pass, a 23-yarder to receiver Sam Baeder, with less than four minutes left in the game. La Quinta Coach Jeff Veeder screamed at Bolsa Grande for throwing on fourth and 11 with a 25-point lead in the closing minutes, but he bit his tongue after the game.

“I don’t have any comment on that,” he said.

Bolsa Grande Coach Earl Graves defended his decision to pass.

“At 35-10, I don’t know what else to do,” he said. “We weren’t intentionally running the score up. We don’t have a running game. I don’t know what to tell people.”

Running back Grady Owen led the Matadors in rushing with 55 yards in 12 carries. He scored Bolsa Grande’s first touchdown on a 33-yard run around right end. Bolsa Grande (3-1, 1-0) scored its last touchdown with three seconds left when backup quarterback Steve Jenks scored on a two-yard run.

La Quinta (0-4) kept it close until one minute remained in the third quarter. That’s when Baughman hit Baeder in the right corner of the end zone with a 28-yard pass on fourth and 11 to put Bolsa Grande up 29-10.

“That was a key play,” Veeder said. “We were coming back until that point.”

Baeder, a 6-foot-2, 214-pound senior, was simply too big for La Quinta’s diminutive secondary. He caught three passes, all for touchdowns, for 96 yards.

“They found a weak spot and they kept picking on it,” Veeder said. “Baughman’s a great quarterback.”

La Quinta scored its only touchdown in the third quarter on Luis Saavedra’s five yard run.