Los Altos Matt Hayashi scores a key touchdown against CO. (Photo by Steven Mercado)
By Steven Mercado
(Covina)- The Los Altos Conquerors’ stifling defensive unit shut down the Charter Oak Chargers in their 29-7 victory on Friday night. The Chargers had not been held to single digits in a regular season game since 2007.
Los Altos’ defense forced two turnovers, including an interception by senior cornerback Kyle Durham on Charter Oak’s first play from scrimmage. The Conquerors ate up the Chargers’ offensive line by getting to the quarterback for a sack six different times — four of them coming in the first half.
The Conquerors found success in their run-heavy offense, led by sophomore running back Tyler Nevens. He carried the ball 33 times for 166 yards and a touchdown. Senior running back Tevita Sina had two rushing touchdowns of at least 30 yards and senior running back Matthew Hayashi added a rushing touchdown as well.
Charter Oak’s offense struggled early against Los Altos. Junior quarterback Kam Brown, who averages 276.5 passing yards a game this season and 2.8 touchdowns a game, went 4-for-10 in the first half. Brown managed CO’s only touchdown with a 58-yard scoring pass to sophomore wide receiver Brian Casteel to tie the game with four minutes to play in the first quarter.
The win by the Conquerors brings both teams’ league records to 1-1. CO will host the 2-5 (0-2) Walnut Mustangs and Los Altos will hit the road to face the 5-2 (2-0) West Covina Bulldogs.
*** Los Altos’ defense forced five three-and-outs against Charter Oak.
*** Charter Oak played without starting junior running back Zion Echols. He averages 79.8 rushing yards a game and has ran for seven touchdowns this season. His replacement, sophomore running back Kevin Mcmillian, only ran the ball 17 times for 28 yards all season before Friday night.
*** Mcmillian suffered an injury in the later half of the third quarter. The next drive, he came back in and after fumbling the ball away, he sat out for the rest of the game. Mcmillian stood on the sideline on crutches during the fourth quarter.
*** Los Altos running backs other than Nevens: Hayashi – five carries for 30 yards and a touchdown; senior RB Gabriel Perez – five carries for 19 yards; Sina – three carries for 61 yards and two touchdowns.
*** On the Conquerors’ first drive of the second half, Nevens busted a 34-yard touchdown run that was called back on an offensive holding call. The drive ended in a punt.
*** Brown completed 18 of his 31 passes in the game for 208 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He also ran the ball three times for 16 yards.
*** Los Altos head coach Dale Ziola on their defense and team play: “They were lights out tonight. They’ve played pretty well all year. You have to play a complete team game — special teams, offense, defense — and you know what? Tonight, it clicked. There were a couple of miscues, but nothing we couldn’t overcome. We’ve had a whole lot of adversity, we lost some guys, these kids practiced hard all week, they believed in each other and good things come from that.”
*** Charter Oak head coach Lou Farrar to his players on the sidelines during a Los Altos timeout with 3:40 left in the second quarter while being down 20-7: “Are they really that good?”
*** Nevens was quick to give credit to his blockers for his 160-yard performance: “I thank my linemen and all the people that blocked for me. I couldn’t do any of this without them.”
*** Los Altos’ starting offensive line: senior LT Steven Magallanes (#70), sophomore LG Oscar Villa (#56), senior C Eric Castillo (#72), junior RG Geno Camacho (#55) and senior RT George Steward (#75).
*** Charter Oak’s starting offensive line: sophomore LT Andy Trujillo (#78), senior LG Alex Luna (#54), senior C Jesus Oliva (#58), sophomore RG Isaac Garcia (#50) and sophomore RT Ryan Quijas (#74).
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