La Quinta Makes Its Points in Loss to Lobos
La Quinta’s season has been one long character-building exercise, and Friday night the Aztecs finally got something tangible to show for it: Crooked numbers on the scoreboard.
Outscored 382-7 in their first eight games, held scoreless in their last seven, the winless Aztecs broke loose for three touchdowns in a 49-20 Garden Grove League loss to Los Amigos before about 750 spectators at Bolsa Grande High School.
“It definitely gives us a boost, something to build on,” first-year La Quinta Coach Guy Gardner said after the Aztecs ended a scoreless streak that had reached 28 quarters since their only other touchdown this season, in the fourth quarter of their opener against Laguna Beach.
“I’m really happy for the kids. We needed it. If anybody needed it, it was us.”
The Aztecs (0-9, 0-5 in league) didn’t mess around, either, scoring the first time they had the ball on Toan Ly’s 26-yard run.
“The kids didn’t know what to do after that first TD, it had been so long,” Gardner said.
Nevertheless, Oscar Mendoza managed to make the extra point, tying the score, 7-7.
And the Aztecs liked the feeling so much that they scored again on their next possession, this time on a 15-yard run by Ly, a 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior who finished with 213 yards rushing in 25 carries.
Oh, sure, the second-place Lobos (5-4, 5-1) scored the next 35 points, turning a 14-13 lead into a 49-13 blowout by the start of the fourth quarter. But the Aztecs--who also got a two-yard touchdown run by Renee Sanchez with 1:32 to play--had earned a victory of sorts, simply by scoring.
“More power to ‘em,” said Los Amigos Coach David Olson, whose team has clinched a playoff berth. “I have a lot of respect for them.”
Los Amigos’ Aoatoa Sualua rushed 15 times for 146 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, and has 1,150 yards this season. Richard Dinh completed seven of nine passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns, including 63- and 40-yard strikes to Victor Estrada, who also kicked six extra points.