Griffins thunder past San Juan Hills

Los Alamitos High’s football team achieved a 42-7 non-league victory against San Juan Hills High on Thursday.

The Griffins came out thundering at the start of the game and never let up.

Los Alamitos High’s football team achieved a 42-7 non-league victory against San Juan Hills High on Thursday.

The Griffins came out thundering at the start of the game and never let up.

“It’s a good win. We played very well on defense, and ran a lot of plays on offense” said Los Al’s Head Coach John Barnes.

Defense was the key word in Los Al’s victory as they allowed no points through the first half and the latter parts of the third quarter.

The Griffins’ Matt Locher was pivotal in the victory as his dominating presence in the defensive line broke down San Juan’s running game.

Just as pivotal in the victory was the Griffins offense. They capitalized on the opportunities afforded to them by the defense and walked into the locker room at the half up 35-0.

Griffins’ quarterback Jack Telenko had three touchdown passes and even ran one in on his own for a rushing score.

“I think he’s great,” Barnes said. “ He’s getting better all the time and he makes our team good.”

Telenko threw all three touchdown passes in the first half of the game. His first was out to the right to receiver Jacob Gasser for a 10-yard reception to get them on the scoreboard. Telenko’s next scoring throw was up the middle of the field to receiver Joe Wysocki who brushed off a couple of tackles on his way to the end zone with about a minute left in the first quarter.

His last was to running back Schuyler Whitehead to make it 28-0. Whitehead would go on later in the second quarter to notch home his second rushing touchdown making it 35-0 with less than five minutes left in the half.

San Juan Hills never really found its rhythm against Los Al. They had turnover after turnover, which is why the Griffins were able to put up mass amounts of points quickly.

San Juan did muster up a bit of momentum to get on the scoreboard late in the third quarter. After a huge reception by their standout receiver Jacob Huff, San Juan suddenly found itself a yard away from the end zone. On the next play San Juan forced its way in the end zone and onto the scoreboard.

Despite mustering some momentum, the efforts from San Juan came far to late to worry the Los Al sideline. The Griffins never skipped a beat on defense, and made their opponents feel their presence up until the end of the game.

Well into San Juan’s final drive of the game, Los Al would deliver its final morale killing play. Griffins Trevor Repogle picked off a forced pass up out to the right with only two minutes left in the game.

Los Al will look to improve to 4-0 when it travels to Narbonne High, on Friday, Oct. 3.