By Tony Solorzano
(Monterey Park) – The 2010 football season kicked off with a nail-biter of a win as Bishop Amat shut out Garfield 23-0 Friday night at East Los Angeles College’s Weingardt Stadium.
The Lancers (1-0) took an early 7-0 lead as defensive end Aaron Bowen literally took a punt out of the hands of Bulldog punter Enrique De La Rosa and ran the ball back for a score with 10:40 left in the first. However, the Lancers would not find the end zone for the rest of the half as the Bulldog defense shut down Lancer quarterback Rio Ruiz’s offensive schemes throughout the remainder of the first half.
Early in the second, the Lancers drove 57 yards after getting the ball on a fourth down sack to the Bulldog 8-yard line. However, kicker Andrew Carrillo missed the 25-yard attempt. On their next possession, the Lancers couldn’t take advantage of a 54-yard punt return by Zachary Shay that put the ball on the Bulldog 22-yard line. The defense took advantage of a holding penalty by sacking Ruiz for an eight-yard loss then got the ball back after Ruiz shanked the punt nine yards, giving the Bulldogs one last opportunity to try to score with only 1:55 left in the half.
In the second half, Ruiz found his passing groove as he hooked up with Shay for a 68-yard passing score with 9:47 left in the third. Carrillo increased the lead six minutes later by hitting a 24-yard field goal. Despite the widening gap, the Bulldogs’ quarterback Leonardo Vaal continued to stymie the Lancer defense by finding Fabian Gonzalez and Steven De La Torre for completions, including a 22-yard strike deep into the Lancer red zone in the fourth quarter. However, the drive was shattered on the next play as Nick Casarez intercepted what would have been a sure touchdown strike to De La Torre at the goal line and ran back 92 yards, which Ruiz converted four plays later with an eight-yard pass to Carrillo for the final score.
For the Bulldogs, Vaal was 15 for 29 for 119 yards. He had no touchdowns and one interception, the 92-yard pick by Casarez in the fourth that ended the Bulldogs’ best shot at a touchdown. Danny Vargas led the Bulldog ground game with 51 yards on 10 carries, while Gonalez caught three passes for 31 yards to lead the air attack. For the Lancers, Ruiz threw 10 completions out of 17 attempts for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Jalen Moore led all rushers with 10 carries, but only gained 23 yards. Shay pulled down four passes for 88 yards and a touchdown.
Next week, The Lancers face off against Dominguez, while the Bulldogs travel down to Santa Ana to face off against Orange Lutheran.
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