Norwalk's Elijhaa Penny
By Johnathan Saller
(Long Beach) – Norwalk got its season underway playing at Los Alamitos in Veteran’s Memorial Stadium Friday night. The Lancers were facing off against a division one opponent in zero week and at the end of the night all head coach Jesse Ceniceros could say was, “I’m proud of my boys,” despite a scoreboard that read 34-0 in favor of the Griffins.
On fourth and goal at the two-yard line with 5:34 remaining in the first half, Elijhaa Penny took the handoff and all eleven Lancers were pushing the pile forward but it wasn’t enough as the ball was spotted at the one inch line, just short of paydirt. A score would have tied the game at 7-7 giving Norwalk the momentum it needed going into half.
The game was still within reach entering the second half with the Lancers only down 14-0 following scores of 22 and 32-yards from shifty Griffins’ running back Nick Richardson. The Lancers had its second chance to make a statement, this time on the defensive side of the ball. But they couldn’t rise to the occasion as the Griffin’s gained three yards for a first down. A costly pass interference penalty put Los Al in position to break the game open. Richardson got the next carry and made a Reggie Bushesque cut across the field to put the Griffins up by 21 after the 53-yard score scamper.
Norwalk’s final chance to get back into the game ended as a ten play drive sputtered giving Los Alamitos the ball back following a punt. On the first play of the drive with 2:59 left in the third, Richardson took another handoff to the house, this one going 73-yards, breaking the back of the Lancers defense.
Despite the powerhouse that is the Los Alamitos Griffins coach Ceniceros didn’t think the score was indicative of how good his team really is, “They’re big up front, they have good linebackers, they probably have six or seven [division one] type guys over there, I mean, I’m proud of my boys, we took it really good and again, the score isn’t really a true showing of what the game really was.”
Next week Norwalk (0-1) plays Cypress (0-0) and coach Ceniceros eluded to the fact that Penny might be held out next week, “He wasn’t 100% he hurt his ankle in a scrimmage last week…not to make excuses but we’ll heal him up and we might even have to decide if he plays next week.”
Game Summary:
1st Quarter:
2:18 Richardson 22-yd rush, Dan Boyer PAT, 7-0.
2nd Quarter:
1:18 Richardson 32-yd rush, Boyer PAT, 14-0.
3rd Quarter:
8:17 Richardson 53-yd rush, Boyer PAT, 21-0.
2:59 Richardson 73-yd rush, Boyer PAT Miss, 27-0.
4th Quarter
3:10 Cody Paul 5-yd rush, Boyer PAT, 34-0.
Score by Quarter:
Norwalk: 0 0 0 0 0
Los Alamitos: 7 14 13 7 34
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