By Tony Solorzano
(Whittier) – Six touchdowns from Kurt Scoby and Travis Santiago propelled Charter Oak to a 49-0 shutout of Santa Fe as both teams concluded their non-league schedules Friday night at Titan Stadium.
Although many pundits predicted a victory for the Chargers (4-1, 0-0), but the scoring drought that has plagued the Chiefs (1-4, 0-0) for their four losses even surprised Head Coach Lou Farrar at the end of the game.
“We didn’t expect the score to be this big,” said Farrar after the game. “We saw them in the summer and we expected them to really challenge us.”
The Chargers open the scoring in the first quarter, scoring twice in a 42-second span. After Scoby scored his first touchdown from a yard out with 6:13 left in the quarter, Khari Garcia intercepted a pass from Chief quarterback Justin Retiz and two plays later, Santiago ran the ball in from a yard out with 5:31 left, giving the Chargers a quick 14-0 lead.
The second quarter was the Chiefs’ undoing as they surrendered four touchdowns over the course of the quarter. Bryce Bobo caught a 14-yard pass from Santiago at the edge of the end zone early in the quarter to make the score 21-0. Midway through the quarter, Scoby scored again, this time from 10 yards out.
Late in the quarter, Santiago broke free on a busted handoff attempt and scrambled 40 yards for his second rushing touchdown. Just over a minute later, as the Chiefs were attempting a drive out of their own territory, running back Joey Davis coughed up the ball into the hands of Eric Prevost, who returned it 23 yards for the score with 37 seconds left in the half, sending the Chargers to the locker room up 42-0.
The Chargers would score once more as Santiago hit his leading receiver Aaren Vaughns for a 25-yard strike to put the score at 49-0 sending the game into a running clock situation for the fourth quarter.
For the Chargers, Scoby and Santiago combined for 166 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Santiago also completed 11 of 18 passes for 132 yards and two more touchdowns. Vaughns and Bobo combined to catch 10 of those passes for 113 yards.
The Chiefs’ offense consisted mainly of the running skills of Joey Davis, who carried the ball 24 times for 109 yards. Anthony Mendoza was the only other Chiefs rusher in double digits, getting 12 yards on his two carries in the fourth quarter. Retiz was ineffective behind center, managing only four completions out of 17 attempts for 55 yards and the interception to Garcia. Christian Mahlstede caught two of those passes for 64 yards, but one of those was a 52-yard pass in the third.
Both teams have a bye next week then begin play in their respective Leagues on Oct. 14.
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