MidValleySports.Com

Andrew Perea and the Dons are loving life at The Ranch (photo by elranchofootball.com)

Andrew Perea threw for 418 yards and four touchdowns to lead El Rancho to a 42-35 win over La Serna Friday night at Don Memorial Stadium.  The Dons survived  a 100-yard interception return by La Serna’s Anthony Garcia on the last play of the first half that put La Serna up 28-21.

The Dons responded by scoring three straight touchdowns in the second half to open up a 14 point lead. La Serna cut it to 42-35 and then recovered an onside kick with 4:12 left, but the Dons shut the Lancers down and forced them to punt. The Dons then ran out the clock. Perea had a fourth down run with just over a minute left that iced it.

“Taking nothing away from La Serna but I think people have been overlooking us a little bit,” said El Rancho HC Vinnie Lopez. “We’re actually just two plays away from being undefeated. We could have beaten Diamond Ranch and Troy also.

The teams traded scores in the first quarter and early in the second. After Adrian Pop caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Perea, La Serna came right back and got even on a 31 yard scramble by Enrique Pacheco for a score. Perea then coughed it up and La Serna recovered it at the Don 28. On the first play of the series Pacheco hit Garcia on a 28 yard touchdown pass to give the Lancers a 21-14 advantage. All seemed right with the world at that point for the La Serna faithful but they had no idea what was coming.

***Perea completed 27 of 47 to accumulate the 418 yards. His touchdown passes came from 19, 26, 47 and 8 yards.

***Isaiah Araujo caught a 47 yard strike from Perea to tie it at 21 before Garcia caught a Perea hail mary just before the end of the first half and brought it all the way back to put the Lancers up 28-21 at the half.

***Arajuo caught seven passes for 125 yards and a touchdown.

***Richard Cuellar also had a big game for the Dons catching Perea’s first TD pass and finishing with nine catches for 78 yards.

***After tying it early in the third, ER went up 35-28 on a eight-yard pass from Perea to Pop. Pop had two touchdown receptions on the night and over 100 yards receiving.

***The Dons put together an 11-play, 79 yard drive in the fourth to go up 42-28 with just over five minutes left.

***Pacheco scored again on La Serna’s next series on a 17 yard run to get the Lancers close but they couldn’t get over the hump.

***La Serna usually has a devastating ground game but was held to just 116 yards rushing overall.

***Pacheco had over 200 yards passing and two touchdowns and rushed for 55 and a pair of scores for the Lancers.

***El Rancho had over 552 yards total.

***El Rancho improves to  4-2 overall (1-0 in the Del Rio) while La Serna falls to 4-2 and 0-1.