Esperanza Consistent Enough to Beat Jordan

The scoreboard indicated a lopsided victory for Esperanza over Long Beach Jordan, 39-17, but Aztec Coach Gary Meek wasn’t completely comfortable Thursday at Valencia High.

Sure, there were plenty of bright spots.

Esperanza (3-1), ranked ninth in the county, piled up the points against Jordan (0-4), using a punishing ground attack, with Jamie Smith rushing for four touchdowns and 144 yards in 14 carries and Brent Garrison adding 96 yards and a touchdown in 15 carries.

Quarterback Grant Wagner completed nine of 16 passes for 99 yards and tight end Bo Ashabraner, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound junior had four catches for 66 yards.

But Jordan led, 3-0, after one quarter, capitalizing on an Esperanza turnover, and the Panthers managed to put together second-half touchdown scoring drives of 81 and 80 yards.

“We’re still not consistent enough offensively or defensively,” Meek said. “We’re not where we need to be if we want to compete for the Sunset League title. But we’re getting better.”

Improvement was something Jordan Coach Mike Ono also wanted to see, considering the Panthers had lost their previous two games to Fontana and Compton Dominguez by a combined 76-13.

Jordan moved to within eight points of Esperanza after David Word, who rushed for 132 yards in 16 carries, scored on a 40-yard run on the Panthers’ opening drive of the second half.

But Esperanza answered with Garrison returning the kickoff 45 yards and Smith finished off a 44-yard drive with his third touchdown, a five-yard run with 4:37 remaining in the third to make it 25-10.

A bad punt snap on Jordan’s next possession gave Esperanza the ball at the Jordan 13 and Garrison scored on a two-yard run 24 seconds into the fourth quarter to make it 32-10.

Although Jordan put together a 15-play, 6 1/2-minute, 80-yard scoring drive, to make it 32-17, Esperanza answered on the ground again.

Esperanza’s starting offensive linemen, who average 6-3, 289 pounds, continually pounded on the smaller Jordan defenders and they helped Smith squirt free for a 60-yard touchdown run to close out the scoring.