Joey Bustos and the Lancers run over El Rancho.
This week in our “One Year Ago” series La Serna was off and running in the Del Rio League with a rout of El Rancho. Duane Barker covered the Week 6 battle played on October 4, 2019.
By Duane Barker
(Whittier) The La Serna Lancers and the El Rancho Dons opened up Del Rio League play Friday night and the Lancers completely dominated the game on both sides of the ball to the tune of a 49-7 victory at Sandy Thortson Stadium on the campus of Cal High.
The Lancers got their first score with 3:21 left in the first quarter on the legs of Micheal Quinones. Quinones got the ball on a sweep to the right and worked his way into the endzone from 15-yards out. Chandler McCaffer missed the extra point but La Serna led 6-0
Just a few minutes later the Lancer struck pay dirt again on a 16-yard pass from Andrew Henriquez to Atallah Shalash. La Serna went after the two-point conversion and completed it on a pass from Henriquez to McCaffer. The score was set up when Aaron Young picked off Chris Andrade at the El Rancho 19.
The Lancers only needed one play to put more points on the board. Set up with good field position at their own 49, La Serna used a bit of razzle dazzle on a reverse that Jake George turned into a 49-yard scoring strike to Milo Lopez. With the McCaffer extra point the Lancers had 21-0 lead with 10:37 still showing in the second quarter.
Milo Lopez and the Lancer D kept Roman Rojas in check.
The third quarter was more of the same as La Serna scored three more times on a 20-yard run by Joey Bustos, a 4-yard McCaffer run and Salash’s second touchdown reception from Henriquez.
Henriquez connected on 14 of 15 passes for 210-yards and two scores. Henriquez’s counter part Andrade hit on 15 of 29 passes for 195 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions.
The Lancers completed their scoring barrage with 8:36 left in the final frame. Steve Pinales got loose on a 56-yard burst to paydirt. Pinales led La Serna on the ground with 94-yards on five carries.
The lone highlight for El Rancho came after the game was already out of reach. Andrade found Brett Vatco deep down the field on the post route for 50-yards and the score.
While La Serna kept the Don’s air attack in check, they also did a stellar job holding El Rancho’s Roman Rojas to just 40-yards on 17 carries.
The Lancers will be back at Sandy Thortson Stadium next week on the vistor’s side as they take on rival California High. El Rancho will be on the road again at Pioneer High School to pay a visit to host Whittier High School.
you guys fail to realize that in the last 5 years LS has won league 3 times , SF 1 and ER1 ..
all this hate on del rio league … you guys fail to realize reality.. this league is one of the toughest in the AREA.. dont believe me … look it up
They shut down that offense and their leading RB.
I’ve said it before, all you have to do is look at how these teams did as freshmen 3 years ago and you get an idea of what it will be like. As freshmen 3 years ago LS whooped on every DRL team and went 10-0 if I’m not mistaken, the year after that another excellent freshmen class that whooped on everyone, you combine the 2 and you get the kind of team LS has this season. You can have bellicheck coaching ER or any other DRL team, but when you have smaller, slower, less talented players you’re going to have a hard time beating teams the caliber of LS. Until ER, Whittier, Cal, SF start getting classes who can beat LS at the lower levels it’s gonna be much of the same.
“…the kingdom!”
I have been many many LS games and think the 2013 CIF Champions with Frankie Palmer is the best LS team. I know the season is not over and we still need the playoffs, but I’m starting to consider the 2019 team as a contender. The way they dominate teams scoring at will and our defense stopping teams dead in their tracks.
All this talk about we haven’t been tested is getting old. You just need to realize LS is Good, Real Good…
For Cal, ER, Whittier and Santa Fe, the most important game of their entire season, including playoffs, is their meeting with La Serna. That game reveals whatever improvement or slippage has taken place from the previous season. Thus, this ER game revealed an approximately 10% improvement over last year, when the Dons might have lost 80-0 if the LS starters had stayed in for the second half. Likewise, the coming Cal-LS game will show that new coach Zamora has a very long way to go before he can realistically hang with the Lancers.
Along these lines of thinking, observe that in the Trinity league, Mater Dei and St. John Bosco rule the roost, but Servite’s narrow 27-26 loss to Bosco has raised hopes for the future, when Servite’s sophomores will only be better. The Friars have served notice on one of that league’s elites that their dominance is being challenged. THAT’S what one of the Del Rio teams need to do with La Serna.
La Serna is a different type of animal…
Crazy as it sounds, the Del Taco’s most important game has become ER-Whittier. Cal and Santa Fe are unspeakably bad, and La Serna is far too good to provide any suspense on how things finish. It’s fitting that the Dons and Cardinals will scratch and claw at Pioneer High, home of mediocre football if ever there was one.
*Thorstenson