MidValleySports.Com

By Tony Solorzano

(Pico Rivera) – A score in the final minute was not enough as the Whittier Cardinals closed out the 2010 Del Rio league season by dropping a 21-18 loss to the El Rancho Dons Friday night at Dons Memorial Stadium.

The Dons(6-4, 2-3) were hoping to make a case for the Southeast Division’s single at-large bid with a strong performance against the previously winless Cardinals(1-9, 0-5), but someone forgot to tell that to the Cardinals, who made a game of it through the first half and managed to crawl back into the game with time running out.

Whittier got on the board first, capitalizing on an interception thrown by Daniel Moriel early in the first quarter. Although the Cardinals got to the Dons’ six-yard line, a sack of quarterback Michael Viramontes and an illegal procedure penalty that nullified a pass from quarterback Viramontes to Nicolas Alamillo, forced them to settle for a 31-yard field goal by Kevin Medina with 7:22 left in the quarter.

On the ensuing possession, El Rancho put the ball on the ground and drove 75 yards in 11 plays, with quarterback Troy Campos capping the drive with a one-yard run on fourth down, giving the Dons a 7-3 lead with 1:21 left in the quarter.

Whittier responded on the next possession, as Christopher Barclay returned the kickoff past mid-field to the Dons’ 48-yard line. The Cardinals kept the ball on the ground and drove to the 23-yard line, where Barclay took a draw off-right and powered to a score, putting Whittier back up 10-7 with 10:03 left in the half.

El Rancho responded again, this time behind running backs Andrew Romero and Ronnel Lone. Lone, in fact, rushed for the final 13 yards of the series, capping the drive with a five-yard score to retake the lead 14-10 with 5:32

Barclay again powered its way to mid-field on the kickoff, while Daniel Gutierrez and Chris Velasco moved the ball into the Dons’ red zone. However, on a second-and-nine play on the Dons’ 15, Velasco broke through the line and seemed to have a sure touchdown when he lost the ball three yards shy of the goal line. The Dons recovered the ball in the end zone with 1:27 left in the half. Unfortunately, despite getting the ball moved deep into Cardinal territory with a 25-yard pass to Freddy Garcia and a roughing the passer penalty to Whittier, Moriel, on a halfback option pass attempt, was sacked with three seconds left in the half, stopping the drive.

After a scoreless third, the Dons took control of the game on their first possession of the fourth quarter. Driving from their own 20-yard line, first down runs by Campos and Lone, a 17-yard pass from Campos to Chris Castro and a facemask penalty on the Cardinals put the ball on the Cardinals’ 13-yard line. But the Cardinals stiffened up and stopped the drive at their four-yard line. But on fourth and one on the four, Campos not only took the ball for the first down yardage, but had enough momentum to push across the goal line for the score with 5:26 left.

Whittier, however, would not give up and drove 70 yards to get another score. This time, Viramontes connected with a wide-open Zackary Woxland for a 21-yard score. On the point after Alejandro Mercado caught a pass for the two-point conversion and the Cardinals had a chance with 13 seconds left. However they failed to recover the onside kick and the Dons took a knee to end the game.

The Dons ground game was led by Lone, who rushed 12 times for 82 yard and his score. Romero carried 17 times for 79 yards, while Campos carried six times for 34 yards and two scores. Barclay led the Cardinals in overall yardage, rushing for 67 yards on offense and returning three kickoffs for 123 yards.

The Dons now await word on the 16^th and final playoff spot for the Southeast Division. The brackets and teams will be announced Sunday afternoon at noon.