Rice and Shorter Help Cypress Beat Corona del Mar

Cypress broke open a close game with three touchdowns in the first two and a half minutes of the second half to roll past Corona Del Mar, 35-10, Saturday night before 2,000 at Western High School.

Justin Rice completed 10 of 17 passes for 140 yards and one touchdown for Cypress, and Darren Shorter ran for 110 yards and two touchdowns in 20 carries. That enabled the Centurions to offset 16 penalties for a loss of 125 yards.

After taking a 14-3 halftime lead, Cypress broke the game open with 21 points in the opening 2:20 of the third quarter.

First, Robert Clark returned the second-half kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown. Then Jelania Gamba forced a fumble in the end zone on Corona del Mar’s next possession, with Jacob Kartchner recovering for another touchdown. One minute later, Shorter scored on an eight-yard run.

Jon-Luke Del Fante kicked a 28-yard field goal in the first quarter as Corona del Mar cut Cypress’ lead to 7-3. But the Sea Kings didn’t score again until Matt Cooper ran in from one yard out with 1:14 to play.