Flores Out Duels Rettig in Santa Fe Victory

By Big Tony Solorzano
(Santa Fe Springs) – A quarterback’s duel between San Clemente’s Chase Rettig and Santa Fe’s Alex Flores ended with Flores earning the 34-20 victory over the Boston College-bound former La Salle signal caller Friday night at Titan Stadium.

It was a shocker for the Tritons (2-1), a perennial post-season contender for the Section’s Pac-5 Crown, to fall to the Chiefs’ balanced offensive attack, tonight getting 318 total yards in offense compared to the Tritons’ 181 total offense. But the night felt like two different games, depending on which half of play you were talking about.

In the first quarter, Jessie Plaza put the Chiefs on the board first scoring on a 49-yard interception of Rettig at mid field and breaking into the San Clemente backfield and scored. However, on the ensuing kickoff, the Tritons put the ball deep in Chiefs’ territory, which Rettig took advantage of by tossing a 30-yard pass to tie the score 7-7.

On the next drive, Cameron Oliver, the Chiefs’ main ground and air target, capped a quick 80-yard drive with a 24-yard run for the go ahead touchdown. However, David Espino scored the first of his two touchdowns with a one yard run, tying the score 14-14 with just over four minutes left in the first.

In the second quarter, the Chief’s burned eight minutes off the clock in a massive 20-play, 80-yard drive capped off by Flores scoring from one yard out with 32 seconds left in the half. But the Tritons weren’t done in the half, as Rettig hit Espino for a 78-yard score on the next series to close out the half tied 20-20.

The second half turned into a defensive struggle as the Chiefs began to turn the ball over on fumbles, but the Tritons were not able to cpatialize on them. In fact, the Tritons gave up the ball on a bizarre play that resulted in the Chiefs’ go ahead score. Rettig was in the process of throwing a pass, when the was knocked out of his hands and into the hands of Andrew Jackson who ran 30 yards for the touchdown.

Oliver closed out the scoring late in the fourth as he finished an 11 play 49 yard drive by catching a five-yard pass from Flores for a touchdown. Flores then re-connected to him on the two point converstion to make the score 34-20. San Celemente tried one last time to get on the board, but an interception by Peter Rodriguez with 46 seconds left sealed the victory.

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