By Big Tony Solorzano
(Whittier) – Terris Jones closed out his senior year with another four-touchdown effort and Adam Contreras threw three touchdowns as California High ended the 2009 Del Rio season with a sweep of the league in a 56-7 victory over traditional rival La Serna Friday night in the annual renewal of the Mustang Bowl.
Jones, the leading rusher for the Condors(7-2-1, 5-0) rushed 12 times for 101-yards, scored on two rushes, returned a punt for a touchdown and set a school record for a 103-yard interception return in the third quarter, ending the hopes of the Lancers (3-7, 2-3) who needed an upset over the Condors to salvage a playoff spot. Instead, El Rancho, who had been defeated, 24-7, the night before by Whittier, was awarded the third place playoff spot by coin flip earlier in the day, even though Whittier held the tie breaker in head-to-head competition.
The Condors got on the board first on Jones’ 5-yard run with 9:26 left in the first quarter, followed nearly six minutes later by the first of Contreras’ three scores, a 30-yard pass to Christian Hernandez, putting the Condors up 14-0 at the end of the first.
In the second quarter, Cal scored four times to blow open the game. Fifteen seconds into the quarter, Jones scored from 31 yards out. Contreras then connected twice with Ceasar Viscarra on two scores. First, Viscarra took a screen pass from near mid-field and broke through two tackles for a 56-yard score. Five minutes later, Contreras, under pressure from a blitz, hit Viscarra at the line of scrimmage, who took the ball 36 yards for his second touchdown, extending the lead to 35-0. Jones closed out the quarter as took a punt from the Lancers’ Andrew Buenrostro near mid-field and broke through the defense for a 52-yard return, putting the Condors up 42-0 at the end of the half.
In the third, Jones intercepted Buenrostro’s throw in the end zone and set a school record for a single interception return, going 103-yards for his fourth score of the game. Coach Ken Arnold pulled his starters, including Contreras after the score, electing to have former starting quarterback Eddie Artiga finish the game. Le Serna finally scored 54 seconds into the fourth quarter as Richard Alvarez scored from 13 yards out, snapping a streak of 12 quarters that the Condor defense held its opponents scoreless. Andrew Kline ended the scoring for Cal with 4:24 left in the game with a 3-yard run.
Cal will host a first round game on Friday against an opponent to be determined. The three Del Rio teams who qualified for the post-season, Cal, second place Santa Fe and El Rancho, will know their first round opponents on Sunday as playoff pairings are announced.
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