Connor Clark bulled his way for 142 yards and two touchdowns for Diamond Ranch.
By Tim Peterson
(Hacienda Heights) – Diamond Ranch shut out Los Altos in the second half and the offense did enough to beat host Los Altos 23-10 Friday night in the Hacienda League opener.
The Panthers trailed 10-7 at the half as both teams struggled to find their offense. The Panthers turned the ball over three times in the first half. In the second half their defense went into lockdown mode while outscoring the Conquerors 16-0.
Diamond Ranch marched 60 yards on 11 plays on their first possession of the third quarter with Connor Clark capping it with a seven-yard touchdown run for a 14-10 lead. The Panthers took control with that drive and never trailed again.
Later, early in the fourth quarter Richard Bernal booted a 43-yard field goal to make it 17-10. The Panthers iced it four minutes later when a 49-yard pass play from Cade Miller to T.J. Cobb set up a two -yard TD jaunt by Clark.
Los Altos had a couple of chances to get back into it but twice quarterback David Hacegaba was picked off in the end zone. Miller, playing on both sides of the ball, and D.J. Shanks both had interceptions in the last five minutes.
Clark rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries to anchor the ground attack.
Cade Miller played quarterback and picked off a pass for the Panthers.
It appeared Diamond Ranch would draw first blood but the Panthers fumbled on the one-yard line early in the contest. Los Altos then drove all the way down to the D Ranch three-yard line before stalling. Yony Lemus kicked a 20-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead.
After another turnover, a Miller interception on the second possession, Diamond Ranch finally got going on their next series driving 61 yards on six plays for the first touchdown of the night. Miller connected with Shanks who made a nifty move at the goal line before scooting in for a 7-3 lead.
The Conquerors got their only score of the contest on the next series. Rene Zaldivar rumbled 45 yards down to the Diamond Ranch five. Two plays later Zedekiah Rodriguez hauled in a three-yard pass from Hacegaba and Los Altos regained the lead. Los Altos took that advantage into the break before Diamond Ranch took over in the second half.
Miller completed just 8 of 15 for 98 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once as Diamond Ranch tuned the ball over four times overall. Shanks caught four for 39 and the score.
Zaldivar rushed for 87 yards on 14 carries for the Conquerors. Hacegaba threw for 134 yards but was hurt by three interceptions. Shanks had two picks for the Panthers. Rodriguez hauled in three passes for 97 yards and a touchdown.
Diamond Ranch improved to 4-2 overall and 1-0 in league, while Los Altos fell to 2-4 and 0-1.
@Cantwell C2017.. You must not know Cantwell that well. The team under Coach Brown, won the Catholic League last year.
They should be yelling at the principal and AD or themselves instead of the coach….
Get out why you can, it won’t get any better.
Does LA still have Brown as the head coach? he is below average. Look what he did at Cantwell…. Nothing
I watch the game from the stands and can’t believe some of the things that come out of the parents mouth. If it wasn’t for the band and all the cheering to drown out the vulgarity, it is embarrassing. These parents think they know more than the coaches. My son is a freshman and this season is an eye opener. When I go to the varsity games I feel like I am in the ghetto. I don’t know much about football but these parents think this coach is a bum.
The problem is the head coach, every where he has been had a losing season just because you played and love the game doesn’t mean you can coach it.
Where’s justamom??? That my question lol
It’s always goos to have hope. Tbh I doubt LA will even make the playoffs LA will beat Walnut and WC. No chance of LA beating SH or CO. Homecoming win against Walnut is a good way to boost the boys moral. Unfortunately LAs veteran players know exactly what’s wrong with their team, the LA coaches are playing “daddy ball”. Maybe if the coaching staff didn’t run off all the kids who got MVP and other awards last year and replace them with their own kids and hand picked transfers they would be doing better. To replace kids who have played together for years is idiotic.
Beginning of the season all the fans were saying how much better LA would be having a coach that had ties to LA. How they said they be better of because Spathais was a off campus coach. They were saying it was a good hire. They were bringing in transfers they were going to be better. When are the coach Brown must go chats going to start? Don’t say it’s cuz team is young. Spathais had a young team that lost a lot of seniors the year before.
We are not that young. Our offensive line is senior at center, left guard, left tackle, junior at right guard, and right tackle. QB junior, RB junior and the only sophomores that play are the coaches nephews at WR and defensive backs. Defense we have defensive line two seniors and one junior. Linebackers we have four seniors and one junior. Defensive backs are senior, junior, and coaches nephews.
This is our year we just lack direction. Offensively we have weapons, D1 kid in 88 and some really good receivers. Our QB is a really good runner and passer.
Maybe we need to change our offensive coordinator and things we get better.
Don’t give up hope yet we could win the next four games and get into the playoffs. D5 playoffs this year is not that loaded as years passed.
Hahahaha
How much longer are LA fans gonna say they’re young. Quit making excuses for your team, supposedly with all this talent there you guys should compete a lot better than you are. And btw your staff is not very good and with that there will be no playoffs this year or next. N-View is young, South Hills is young, DR is young and they are winning now.
Regarding the header for this post, Los Altos got “locked up” when they let the parents and fans decide who would be coach.
Alot of teams are “young” things at LA are very bad
At this point, the only saving graces are
1. This team is very young
2. First year as the HC at LA
How that hiring go?
WOW…..