High School Football: Galindo runs wild, leads Lobos to win
GARDEN GROVE — Edgar Galindo went into Thursday night with 522 yards and four touchdowns on the ground on the year for Los Amigos High.
The senior recorded exactly half that many rushing yards and rushing touchdowns against Saddleback.
Galindo tore apart the Roadrunners, rushing 23 times for a career-high 261 yards to lead the host Lobos to a 33-14 nonleague win at Garden Grove High.
Los Amigos’ one-two punch of Galindo and quarterback Steven Hernandez proved to be too much for Saddleback. Hernandez, who entered Thursday third in Orange County with 766 rushing yards, had 24 carries for 141 yards and two touchdowns.
Los Amigos (3-2) goes into Garden Grove League play with some momentum. Now comes the hard part. The Lobos open with defending league champion Garden Grove next week.
Garden Grove has a 22-game winning streak in league. The Argonauts’ last setback in league was to Rancho Alamitos in 2011, the same year Los Amigos last defeated Garden Grove.
“I think they’re going for five [straight league titles],” Los Amigos Coach Carl Agnew said of the Argonauts. “They play a tough nonleague schedule, which is very difficult to handle. We play several teams that are pretty tough to prepare us for a team like [Garden Grove]. To beat a team like [Garden Grove] you’ve got to come out and be sharp in all facets of the game. Today we had a little bit of time where we were really sharp, and then we kind of hit a lull, and then we went back to being very sharp again.”
Forty-nine seconds are how many it took for Los Amigos to get on the scoreboard first.
The opening drive took five plays and covered 65 yards. Most of those yards came on Galindo runs. After going to the left for 47 yards the first two times he carried the ball, Galindo went right, and then right into the end zone on a six-yard run.
Saddleback’s first play from scrimmage went for 10 yards, on a run by Geovanni Estrada. The tailback stayed down near midfield, and after a couple of minutes, Estrada slowly walked off the field.
The Roadrunners (2-3) missed Estrada, as they lost yards on half of their next four plays. They got lucky they didn’t turn the ball over on third down. Linebacker Zacharia Antolin stripped quarterback Jonathan De Leon, but Saddleback recovered the ball. The Roadrunners punted, and the Lobos took over on their 26.
On first down, Galindo broke free. He first ran left, then bolted straight up the field, and near midfield, he cut to the right, beating the defense for a 74-yard touchdown.
The carry was Galindo’s fifth and he already had 140 yards. After the long run, Los Amigos went for a two-point conversion. The Lobos missed their first extra-point kick, and they tried to go up, 14-0. They went to Galindo and the Roadrunners stopped him short.
Less than four minutes in, Los Amigos led, 12-0. On the ensuing kickoff, the Lobos looked like they got the two points they failed to get.
Saddleback’s returner fielded the kick near the two, and he ran back into the end zone to take a knee. One referee signaled for a safety, but the head ref overruled, placing the ball at the one.
Los Amigos forced a three-and-out, and it earned great field position near midfield. After running the ball on their first 12 plays, the Lobos went to the air. Hernandez hit Antolin on a pass to the right, on the 10-yard line, and from there, he broke a tackle, finishing the 16-yard touchdown play.
The only issue for Los Amigos was the PAT. The kicker struck it to the left and short, as a result the Lobos went ahead, 18-0, with 2:10 left in the opening quarter.
Helping Saddleback’s cause to cut the deficit was a personal foul penalty on Los Amigos on the next kickoff.
The Roadrunners began on the Lobos’ 48, and six plays later, they were on Los Amigos’ doorstep. A reverse play to the left to Devar Ahmath resulted in 21-yard gain. A Los Amigos penalty moved the ball half the distance to the goal, on the two. From there, Saddleback fooled the defense. The Lobos believed De Leon handed the ball off to the right, only to see the junior take it himself. When there was no room to run, he took off to the left for a touchdown.
No team could convert after a touchdown, as Los Amigos blocked the extra-point kick. The Lobos went into halftime with an 18-6 lead, and a late defensive stand inside their 10-yard line kept it that way.
Solomon Fetalaiga, a lineman, came up with a big five-yard sack on third-and-seven, leaving Saddleback with a fourth-and-long situation. The sack was one of four for the Lobos, who also saw Antolin pick off a pass in the third quarter.
The Roadrunners turned the ball over on downs. They did the same thing to open the second half, and with Los Amigos taking over inside Saddleback’s 40, it capitalized.
Hernandez found Antolin for a 25-yard pass, moving the chains on third-and-23. Two plays later, Hernandez ran in for a 16-yard touchdown to make it 24-6.
Agnew said the game plan was to keep the two-headed monster of Hernandez and Galindo going. The Lobos hope the duo can help upset Garden Grove, which has outscored Los Amigos, 156-26, in the past four meetings.
“It’s going to be a good game,” Galindo said. “It’s going to be something to watch.”
Nonleague
Los Amigos 33, Saddleback 14
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Saddleback 0 – 6 – 0 – 8 — 14
Los Amigos 18 – 0 – 8 – 7 — 33
FIRST QUARTER
LA – Galindo 6 run (kick failed), 11:11.
LA – Galindo 74 run (run failed), 8:12.
LA – Antolin 16 pass from Hernandez (kick failed), 2:10.
SECOND QUARTER
S – De Leon 2 run (kick blocked), 11:05.
THIRD QUARTER
LA – Hernandez 16 run (run failed), 6:16.
LA – Vera tackles running back in the end zone for a safety, 1:13.
FOURTH QUARTER
S – Perea 89 run (Perea run), 5:19.
LA – Hernandez 40 run (Ramirez kick), 3:05.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
S – Perea, 20-166, 1 TD.
LA – Galindo, 23-261, 2 TDs.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
S – De Leon, 5-12-1, 23.
LA – Hernandez, 3-7-0, 49, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
S – Roa, 2-16.
LA – Antolin, 2-51, 1 TD.
