Cypress Wins Despite Mistakes

As hard as Cypress tried, it couldn’t give the football game away against Buena Park Friday night.

Quarterback Justin Rice threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns and running back Darren Shorter scored three times to lead the Centurions to a sloppy 34-7 nonleague victory in front of 2,500 fans at Western High.

Cypress, which allowed 104 points in its first two games, overcame 10 fumbles and a dozen penalties, three of which nullified touchdowns. The Centurions lost six of those fumbles, but rebounded with strong defense, led by Jonathon Rice, who intercepted two passes.

Just three plays after Buena Park punted following its opening possession, Justin Rice connected with Thaddius Lewis on a 13-yard touchdown pass.

Steve Bouman and Shorter scored on runs of 24 and 13 yards, respectively, to give the Centurions (1-2) a 21-0 halftime lead.

Buena Park (0-3) got its lone score after Justin Rice fumbled the snap on the first play of the third quarter. The ball was recovered by the Coyotes’ Travis Heathington at the Cypress 30-yard line. Four plays later, Rudy Padillo plunged over from the one-yard line, cutting the lead to 21-7.

Shorter had five receptions for 103 yards and one touchdown.

Clarence Moore had six receptions for 101 yards.