Producing a stellar performance in all three phases of the game, the Anzar High football team rebounded from a humbling season-opening loss.
The Hawks scored on seven of their eight offensive drives, the defense was stout and the special teams added a touchdown as host Anzar (1-1) rolled past Alma Heights Christian 56-14 on Friday night.
“Here, we out-matched them,” Hawks coach Luis Espinoza said on the difference from the first week to this week. “The run, everything worked for us.”
First-year quarterback Dave Conrath was 6 of 13 for 113 yards and five touchdowns. In fact, his first four completions went for scores.
“Finally Dave is the quarterback we’ve been asking for,” Espinoza said. “…For him being a first year quarterback, so it’s incredible to have that.”
And on the ground, Ammar Mohsin and Angel Jimenez got things rolling with 88 yards and 80 yards rushing, respectively. Mohsin had one of two rushing TDs on the night.
Izaac Ornelas had the second TD, plowing up the middle for a 7-yard score in the fourth quarter. He also had two of the team’s four 2-point conversions.
The defense, meanwhile, held Alma Heights (0-2) in check for most of the game.
Except for scoring runs of 66 and 33 yards from Eagles running back Matthew Ross, the Hawks held their opponent to 82 offensive yards.
Ultimately, the theme of the day was the line play. On offense Conrath had time to drop back to pass and the runners had room to take off.
“I put the challenge to them all week because of last week,” Espinoza said, referring to a demoralizing 45-2 season-opening loss to Fresno Christian. “I was nervous. Yesterday I was nervous because we were dropping the ball and we weren’t running anything we were supposed to. So I put the challenge on our offensive line and I put the challenge on our backs.”
Izaiah Ornales, Matt Yarbrough Cody Fisher and the rest of the cast did a number on the opposing team in the trenches.
And when not on the field, they were pumping up their team. Yarbrough about screamed himself hoarse trying to get his team pumped. And when he couldn’t do much more, he took a big swig of water and let out a Triple-H spray, getting the players around him laughing.
Defensively, apart from Ross on the ground, Alma Heights didn’t have time to do much else. Quarterback Armand Nasseri had just two completions for positive yards, finishing 3 of 8 for 35 yards. The Eagles had just 34 yards of offense from anyone not named Ross.
Ross on three plays had 137 of the Eagles’ 181 total yards for the night and both of their touchdowns.
Anzar’s defense set the tone for the game early in the first quarter after Ross broke a run of 38 yards on just the second play from scrimmage.
The run put Alma Heights on the Anzar 22 and two plays later, the Eagles had first and goal from the 6. Alma Heights was denied pay dirt on three plays, but had a fourth and goal from the 1 when Ross got the ball.
He was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage for a two-yard loss and Anzar’s offense went to work.
The Hawks survived a near disaster on their 20-yard line when a bad snap put them at fourth and long from their own 18. But the Eagles were flagged for a facemask that gave the Hawks new life on the drive.
Six plays later, after a steady diet of runs, Conrath dropped back to pass and hit a wide-open Zac Tomasini for a 20-yard strike down the sideline.
“We’ve run that play a couple of times and I’m always open on that play,” Tomasini said. “Every time we run that play, I’m usually wide open. Then we run it once and it usually doesn’t work a second time. But for some reason tonight, there were a few times that it worked out.”
Fourth downs proved to be key for Anzar, as the Hawks converted three of four attempts, including Conrath and Tomasini connecting for a second time early in the fourth quarter in Conrath’s last series of the game.
The only fourth down conversion to fail came in the second quarter when Conrath hit Victor Flores in the hands with a pass that was dropped. Flores had a clear shot to the end zone had he come down with the ball.
But Flores more than made up for the missed opportunity.
On Anzar’s ensuing series, he caught a 31-yard pass for a TD and a 20-0 halftime lead.
Coming out of the break, Flores pulled down a second pass from Conrath, this one going for a 12-yard score and a quick 26-0 margin.
Ornelas also had two touchdowns, the first coming early in the second quarter, catching a 17-yard pass for a 14-0 lead. He also had the final score of the game for the 56-14 margin.
Not to be outdone, the special teams got into the mix after the Anzar defense and penalties pushed Alma Heights from a second and five from its own 35 to fourth and 30 from its own 10.
The ensuing punt was batted down and Izaiah Ornelas fell on the loose ball in the end zone for a 34-0 lead in the third quarter after his brother Izaac ran for the 2-point play.
Alma Heights broke the shutout on its next possession, as Ross got a huge block that took out a pair of Hawks on his way to a 66-yard score.
He found the end zone a second time in the fourth quarter, going for a 33-yard run and cutting the deficit to 48-14.
Now the focus shifts immediately to next week and Pinewood.
Anzar has not defeated Pinewood in the last three years, being outscored 134-60 in the process.
“With what we’ve done tonight, hopefully we can carry it on and hopefully beat Pinewood,” Tomasini said. “They’re our biggest enemy. I really want to beat them.”
NOTES: The scoreboard read 54-14 at the end of the game, but the operator had missed Izaac Ornelas’ 2-point conversion in the third quarter following the touchdown on the punt block. The correct score was 56-14.
The game went to a running clock in the fourth quarter after Tomasini’s touchdown put Anzar up 48-6.
Pinewood travels to Anzar on Sept. 26 for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Panthers are 0-1 after a 26-8 home loss to Stuart Hall Friday night.
