By Steven Mercado
(Glendora) — The Whittier Cardinals running attack looked unstoppable against the Azusa Aztecs as they cruised to a 31-12 win on Friday at Citrus College.
The Cardinals finished with 249 total rushing yards as all of their scores came from the ground. Their attack was led by junior running back Eddie Orta, who ran the ball 11 times for 70 yards and two touchdowns.
Azusa’s sloppy play was not a pleasant way to start the season in front of a homecoming crowd. They committed seven turnovers and scored zero second half points. The two interceptions thrown by senior quarterback Jose Ledesma were followed by Whittier drives that were capped with touchdowns. Azusa had a difficult time dictating the pace and Whittier kept possession for the majority of the game.
***Azusa ran the ball well during their first drive. Junior running back Angel Maldonado scored on a 9-yard run.
***Whittier responded with a three-play scoring drive. Orta barreled his way through the middle of the Aztec defense for a 33-yard touchdown run.
***Whittier’s running game: Eddie Orta – 11 carries, 70 yards, 2Tds; senior Anthony Figueroa – 11 carries, 60 yards, TD; senior running back Anthony Pina – 10 carries, 88 yards, 2 TD
***The second and final Aztecs touchdown of the night came via a one-yard quarterback sneak by Ledesma.
***“You can’t commit seven turnovers and win a football game. That was the major thing; our defense was on the field, but…we made bad decisions, missed tons of tackles, and…we just have a lot of work to do.” — Azusa Head Coach Joe Scherf
***Whittier head coach Visko Ancich on the win: “Our kids have a lot of fight, they work hard, they play with a lot of passion, but we just have to clean up our mistakes. We made a bunch of little errors, our tackling on defense was poor, but we were able to get a couple of things done with it. We forced a few fumbles, we got that key interception, and our running backs were able to make some things work. [Azusa] loaded up the box with about nine guys at times, so they forced us to do things I don’t think we were ready for. It was a good game and…those guys can hit.”
***Quarterback comparison: Whittier senior quarterback Jered Reza – 6-13, 105 yards, five rushes, 27 yards; Azusa senior quarterback Jose Ledesma – 7-15, 97 yards, two rushes, nine yards, TD, two interceptions
***Rushing comparison: Whittier – 249 total rushing yards, five TDs; Azusa, 65 total rushing yards, two TDs
***Pina was injured and left the game after getting hit hard at the end of a 17-yard run at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
***Whittier junior safety Johnny Godinez: one interception, two fumble recoveries.
***The game started with Azusa up 6-0. Whittier responded with 19 unanswered points and controlled the game the rest of the way.
***Whittier (2-0) looks to continue its strong start next Friday against Whittier Christian (2-0) while Azusa (0-1) looks to bounce back from the loss as they prepare for next week’s match-up at Maranatha (1-0).
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