(Rancho Santa Margarita)- It didn’t take long for the bigger, stronger, deeper, home team to assert itself on Thursday night.
The Tesoro Titans rolled the visiting Valley Christian Crusaders 54-0 in the 2010 season opener.
“We learned a lot of things,” said VC HC Eric Streelman. “I believe we come away with an understanding why Tesoro is among the best programs around. You have to execute and while we did some things well we didn’t do enough.”
With little over a minute gone in the first quarter Titan quarterback Matt Adam scored on a 23-yard run.
Tesoro retook possession after forcing a Valley punt, but turned the ball over on downs when its drive stalled at midfield.
The momentum shift didn’t last as Titan defensive back Jordan Alvino picked off a Ryan Fronke pass and returned it 71-yards to paydirt.
VC center Brandon Williams explains to his quarterback, Ryan Fronke, how his ankle rolled as the team trainer tapes him up during Thursday night's loss at Tesoro.
“They’re hitting hard out there,” Fronke said to the team trainer as he was being checked over later in the quarter.
The senior quarterback’s debut was highlighted by toughness and low-lighted by several dropped passes and three picks.
Fronke finished 11 of 30 for 108-yards and three interceptions while running Streelman’s no huddle offense.
“He was a warrior out there,” said Streelman. “They (Tesoro) have a great front seven, but he did a pretty good job. Our offensive line needs to do a better job protecting him.”
Up 16-0 in the second, the Titans Adam scored again on a belly option, sprinting 39-yards untouched.
The ensuing kick-off was another Crusader disaster when Chris Binford had the ball knocked away and into the hands of Tesoro’s Eric Law, who returned in 24-yards for another score.
With four minutes left in the half the Titans Nate Tago made it 37-0 with a 2-yard run, and things only got worse in the second half as Ryan Dunne returned errant pass 26-yards for the game’s final score.
Next week Tesoro faces Santa Margarita at home in its annual “Rumble in the Ranch” while Valley Christian travels to Santa Maria to play St. Joseph.
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