Los Alamitos Knocks Out Esperanza

Los Alamitos ended three years of frustrating losses to Anaheim Esperanza on Friday night with a 22-17 victory in the Sunset League opener for both before an estimated 8,000 at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Griffin quarterback Ryan Hanson passed for 259 yards and two touchdowns, both in the third quarter to receiver Keenan Howry, as Los Alamitos (6-0, 1-0) erased a 17-13 deficit. Howry finished with 152 yards on six receptions.

“I told our kids this would be like a 15-round slugfest, and it was time we got in the last punch,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said.

Esperanza (5-1, 0-1), which wasted a 244-yard, two-touchdown performance by running back Jarrod Schuster, had a 17-13 lead midway through the third quarter before giving up a safety on a snap that went out the end zone, and a 28-yard scoring pass from Hanson to Howry with 1:42 left in the third quarter.

The Aztecs had their chances in the fourth quarter. With 6:44 to play they forsook a field-goal attempt from the Griffins’ 18-yard line to try for a first down, but quarterback Grant Wagner’s pass was incomplete. The Aztecs also fumbled away the ball on their 37-yard line and finally ran out of downs at their nine-yard line with 11 seconds to play.

“I didn’t go for the field goal because we were having some problems withe the kicking game,” Esperanza Coach Gary Meek said.

Neither Los Alamitos nor Esperanza--ranked second and sixth in Division I, respectively--did anything fancy. The one true gadget play was run by Los Alamitos in the third quarter; Howry tried to pass from a double reverse but the ball was intercepted by Aaron Hill at the Esperanza 27.

After stopping Los Alamitos at its one-yard line, Esperanza drove 99 yards in 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the second quarter. Schuster, who got the Aztecs out of trouble with a 38-yard run, scored on a one-yard dive.

Los Alamitos tied the score in the second quarter on a two-yard run by Hanson after an interception by Austin Guyness at the Griffin 13-yard line.

But Schuster, who rushed for 168 yards in the first half, was not done. He broke off a 39-yard run, taking Esperanza from midfield to the Griffins’ 11-yard line. The Los Alamitos defense stiffened, however, and the Aztecs had to settle for a 22-yard field goal by Nathan Fikse with 26 seconds to play in the half.