Esperanza Runs to Victory, 46-19

Shane Henry needed 25 carries this season to gain 233 yards. Thursday, he needed seven to gain 272.

The Anaheim Esperanza senior, who sat out half the season because of a groin injury, scored three times to lead the Aztecs, ranked No. 18 in the Southland by The Times, to a 46-19 Sunset League victory over No. 15 Los Alamitos.

“Shane makes our offense much faster,” said Rocky Taloa, who muscled his way to 115 yards and a touchdown in 15 carries and helped move Esperanza (7-2, 3-1) solely into second place behind second-ranked Huntington Beach Edison. Third-place Los Alamitos dropped to 7-2, 2-2.

Coach Bill Pendleton said Henry’s outside speed in the Wing-T offense finally makes his team the one he wants to take into the playoffs, which begin in two weeks. Esperanza rushed for 479 yards and completed its only pass for 13 yards. Quarterback Kevin Jablonsky rushed eight times for 94 yards and a touchdown, and Charles Neal rushed 11 times for 61 yards and a score.

“They did a good job of taking away our inside runners,” Pendleton said. “It’s hard to take everything away if you have some speed.”

And that’s what Henry provided, sidestepping defenders and leaving them sprawled on the ground.

“This was my first game at full strength,” said Henry, who had flu earlier this week and slept most of Thursday.

His first three carries were for 39, 38 and 67 yards, the latter two for touchdowns. He also had a 72-yard touchdown run and finished the night with a 32-yard carry.

Esperanza led at halftime, 27-13, and scored on its first three possessions of the second half.

It was Esperanza’s first victory since 2000 over Los Alamitos, which had won six of the last seven meetings.

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The High Desert League football game scheduled for tonight between Lebec Frazier Mountain and Mojave has been canceled.

“A couple days ago, we had some not real specific threats of violence at our game,” said Larry Phelps, superintendent of the Mojave Unified School District. “For us, safety is a No. 1 thing. Parents need to know their kids are safe. I think we’d be fine, but we’re not willing to take that risk.”

According to Phelps, the Kern County Sheriff’s Dept. was notified and began an investigation.

“We have that ... concern,” Phelps said about idle threats canceling games, “but I think we’ll get to the bottom of this and be able to resolve it.”

Going into this weekend’s games, Mojave (3-4, 1-2) was tied with two other schools for third place and the last of three automatic playoff berths; Frazier Mountain (1-7, 0-3) was last among six teams. The game will not be made up, Phelps said.