BP Takes it to LP, 30-7

Baldwin Park's Christian Lazaro

Baldwin Park QB Manny Salcedo

By Matthew Schuler

(Baldwin Park)- Baldwin Park Braves remained unbeaten after handing La Puente its first loss of the season, defeating the Warriors 30-7 Friday night at Ted K. Gorrell Memorial Stadium.

Braves quarterback Manny Salcedo completed 7 of 12 pass attempts for  72 yards, including 2 touchdown strikes to his favorite target in WR Christian Lazaro.

Lazaro finished the night with 5 catches for 58 yards and the two touchdown grabs of 5 and 10 yards.

The game started off sluggish and was 0-0 at the end of the first, but the Braves kicked it into gear when Salcedo found Lazaro in the end zone with 6:50 to play in the second quarter to make it 7-0.

Salcedo and Lazaro kept it rolling and connected again with 51 seconds remaining in the second quarter pushing the lead to 14-0 at halftime.

“Every Friday night is our biggest football game,”  said Baldwin Park head coach James Heggings. “We want to find out who we are as a team.”

BP also established a powerful running game behind the brotherly tandem of running backs Jesse and Anthony Moran. The Braves displayed plenty of depth and rotated 8 different runners in the backfield.

Jesse Moran finished with two touchdowns, but it was Anthony Moran who got the load of the carries and responded with 159 yards on 15 carries.

LP had a hard time stopping the versatile offense of BP, but the Warriors were still in business after a big defensive play by James Fernandez.

Fernandez picked off a Salcedo pass and took it 68 yards to the house with 4:58 remaining in the third turning what looked like a possible blowout into a 14-7 nail bitter going into the fourth.

“They definitely made it a game,” said coach Heggins. “It was a battle.”

But the bounce of the ball went Baldwin Park’s way when in the fourth quarter Salcedo fumbled the ball at the goal line and Jesse Moran fell on it for one of his two touchdowns  making the score 21-7.

The ensuing kick off La Puente’s Jose Perez took a reverse handoff 75 yards down the field but after being tackled at the Baldwin Park 15 the Warriors could not punch it in for a score and turned it over on downs.

Baldwin Park’s Jesse Moran also scored on a 9 yard touchdown run and the Warriors bad luck continued when Perez fumbled the kickoff return and was tackled in the end zone for a safety making it 30-7.

BP is now 3-0 and takes on Bonita next week in a redemption match up after a tough loss last year against the bearcats. La Puente is now 2-1.

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