Everything Goes Right for Loara Against Cypress

On a night when everything seemed to go wrong for the Cypress High football team, Loara could do little wrong.

Put those two factors together and the sum was a 49-32 Saxon victory in an Empire League game that wasn’t that close Thursday night at Western High.

Loara rode the efforts of running back Billy Chavez and free safety Rudy Acosta to a 36-0 fourth-quarter lead before Cypress made a run against a mostly second-string Loara defense.

Chavez finished with 140 yards and four touchdowns and Acosta handled the defensive duty with a school record-tying three interceptions, including one he returned 70 yards for a touchdown.

“Overall it was a good team effort,” Loara Coach John De Fries said. “Our defense and special teams played great, and our offense took advantage of their mistakes.”

There were plenty of chances for the opportunistic Saxons (5-2, 2-0 in league).

Cypress, the defending league champion, was penalized 13 times for 106 yards and committed four turnovers. A botched snap on a punt turned into a first-quarter safety.

The Centurions (3-4, 1-1) had poor field position for most of the game, with first-half drives beginning at their own 23, eight, 19, nine, 20, 16 and 14.

Cypress crossed midfield only once in the first three quarters, and Ryan Nealeigh fumbled at the Loara 41.

“You just can’t make mistakes against a team like [Loara],” Cypress Coach Kerry Crabb said. “We didn’t play good football.”

Loara has been playing good football for the last two weeks, and with victories over Kennedy and Cypress, the Saxons sit in the driver’s seat for the league title.

“We should win it,” Acosta said. “It’s real big beating the defending league champs. We still have three games to go, but we are on top of our game right now and we keep getting better.”

The loss of Paul Kerr, who averaged more than 40 yards a punt before breaking his leg two weeks ago against Santa Ana, hurt the Centurions Thursday. Reserve Chad Halbert punted 21 yards on his first attempt, 16 on his second, then dropped a snap in the end zone and booted the ball over the end line for a safety on his third try. His next two were 25 and 22 yards.

“When you lose a guy of [Kerr’s] caliber it hurts,” Crabb said. “You grow to depend on what he can do.”

Cypress had only 54 yards in offense through three quarters, but quarterback Justin Rice picked apart the Saxon defense in the fourth, completing nine of 17 passes for 163 yards and four touchdowns in the quarter.