No. 3 Esperanza Avenges Loss to Rancho Alamitos

Esperanza had to wait a year, but the Aztecs got their revenge on Rancho Alamitos. And if it means anything, their margin of victory in Friday night’s 44-6 win at Bolsa Grande High was bigger than Rancho Alamitos’ last year.

“That was bad last year,” Esperanza quarterback Grant Wagner said of the Aztecs’ 38-14 loss at home. “It was embarrassing for the players, the coaches, everybody. We came out fired up. We wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again.”

The Vanguards made sure there was no chance of that happening. The third-ranked Aztecs (2-0) jumped on Rancho Alamitos for 24 points in the first quarter and never let the Vaqueros into the game. Esperanza’s offensive linemen averaged 75 pounds more than the Rancho Alamitos defensive linemen and its receivers were half a foot taller than the Vaqueros’ defensive backs.

The disparity was even worse in the kicking game. Esperanza kicker Nate Fikse booted every kickoff out of the end zone and he walloped a 56-yard field goal in the first quarter that would have been good from 10 yards farther out.

“They’ve got it back, that’s for sure,” Rancho Alamitos Coach Doug Case said. “They definitely overmatched us this year. Against a Division I football team, we would have had to execute perfectly. But we made way too many mental and physical mistakes.”

The Vaqueros had 13 penalties, many of them for illegal procedure, turned the ball over twice on fumbles and the punter dropped a snap that led to an easy touchdown. Maybe the Vaqueros’ most costly turnover came on their first drive. Rancho Alamitos, already trailing, 7-0, had a nice drive going until quarterback George Gonzalez lost the ball while fighting for extra yardage on Esperanza’s 44.

Three plays later, Fikse punished the football and deflated Rancho Alamitos’ comeback hopes by booming the 56-yarder, two yards short of the county record set last year by Mission Viejo kicker Nick Gilliam.

“I didn’t think I had enough,” Fikse said. “But once I saw [holder Kris Hall] put his hands up, I knew I had it.”

Esperanza scored twice more in the quarter on touchdown passes of 14 and 39 yards from Wagner to Hall and Aaron Hill. Wagner (eight of 11, 171 yards, four touchdowns) threw two more touchdown passes in the second half to 6-foot-6 tight end Bo Ashabraner.

“We’re trying to keep him under wraps a little bit,” Esperanza Coach Gary Meek said. “We’re not going to show all our cards early. We could have thrown more than we did, but with a lead like that, we didn’t want to start winging it.”