Los Amigos football runs past Loara
Los Amigos’ loss in last week’s Garden Grove League football opener hasn’t diminished goals nor expectations, but rather bolstered belief, priming the Lobos for a comprehensive performance Thursday night.
Junior quarterback Maysen Navarro totaled 256 yards and four touchdowns, junior running back Pedro Hernandez ran for another 115 yards, and Los Amigos earned an emphatic 34-14 victory over Loara at Garden Grove High School.
The Lobos (5-2, 1-1 in the Garden Grove League) permitted just three first-half first downs en route to a 14-0 lead at the break, then scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to end whatever suspense might have existed.
Los Amigos’ defense, spurred by two early Rocco Rivera sacks, harassed All-CIF Southern Section quarterback Dre Sanchez all night.
They limited Sanchez, who led Loara (3-4, 1-1) to last year’s Division 14 title, to 13 of 27 passing for 166 yards — more than half of it on four fourth-quarter completions on the Saxons’ best possession — and minus-5 yards rushing after a 49-yard gain on the game’s fourth play from scrimmage.
Los Amigos coach Romel Guess called it “a huge win” and his team’s best showing of the season, and it will leave them among four 1-1 teams trailing defending champion Rancho Alamitos, a 17-7 winner over Los Amigos a week earlier, or Bolsa Grande. The Vaqueros and Matadors were scheduled to meet on Friday, Oct. 7.
“Our job’s not done,” Guess said. “We’ve got high goals, and that loss to Rancho hasn’t changed course for us. We’re still hoping for a league title, we’re still shooting for a CIF title. Our goal is trying to compete for a state title ... and we’re not going to let anything derail us or slow us or take us away from that goal.”
Navarro, a third-year starter, was masterful running the Lobos’ ball-control attack. They scored on five of seven drives, marching 83, 91, 75 and 70 yards for four of the touchdowns, two of them lasting a dozen or more plays and eating up more than six minutes.
“Probably his best game this season,” Guess said. “I thought he controlled the game well, and that’s part of being a quarterback, being able to manage the game. I thought he did a great job. He took shots and he picked his spots and he ran the ball well. He’s a great leader.”
Navarro twice connected with sophomore receiver Adrian Ramirez for touchdowns, finding him in the end zone for an 18-yard score on Los Amigos’ first possession and on a 7-yard screen pass for a 20-7 lead three plays into the fourth quarter. Ramirez made four catches for 70 yards, the other two for first downs.
Loara started well, moving from its 25 to the Lobos’ 18 after the opening kickoff, most of it on Sanchez’s 49-yard scamper, but a poor pitch and Rivera’s first sack ended the threat, and Los Amigos was ahead five minutes later. It was 14-0 a minute before halftime, Navarro setting up his 6-yard touchdown run with a 17-yard scramble into Saxons territory on third-and-12 and a 27-yard completion to Ramirez into the red zone.
Loara halved the deficit on its only third-quarter possession, with Jay Baez taking a pitch 16 yards to the end zone three plays after Sanchez found Remy Ybarra for 33 yards to the Lobos’ 23.
Los Amigos answered with a methodical drive, 13 plays leading to Ramirez’s second score, and when the Saxons failed to move the ball, with Sanchez throwing incomplete on fourth down at his 19, Navarro sprinted to the end zone on the next play.
The teams traded touchdowns once more, with Sanchez hitting Jeremiah Adly for 16 yards five plays after they hooked up for 34 yards. Hernandez, who got his yardage on 18 carries followed with his long touchdown run with 1:37 to go.
“He needed a breakout game,” Guess said of the tough, slippery 5-foot-5 Hernandez. “He’s been itching to get loose and break out, and I thought this was by far his best game.”
Los Amigos 34, Loara 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Loara 0 - 0 - 7 - 7 — 14
Los Amigos 7 - 7 - 0 - 20 — 34
FIRST QUARTER
LA — Ramirez 18 pass from Navarro (Padilla kick), 2:00.
SECOND QUARTER
LA — Navarro 6 run (Padilla kick), 0:59.
THIRD QUARTER
L — Baez 16 run (Olivera kick), 4:30.
FOURTH QUARTER
LA — Ramirez 7 pass from Navarro (kick failed), 10:55.
LA — Navarro 19 run (Padilla kick), 9:30.
L — Adly 16 pass from Sanchez (Olivera kick), 5:35.
LA — Hernandez 52 run (Padilla kick), 1:37.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
L — Sanchez, 10-46.
LA — Hernandez, 18-115, 1 TD; Navarro, 12-100, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
L — Sanchez, 13-27-0, 166, 1 TD.
LA — Navarro, 14-18-0, 156, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
L — Ybarra, 7-96; Adly, 4-57, 1 TD.
LA — Ramirez, 4-70, 2 TDs; Bermudez, 4-46.
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