SAN FRANCISCO — The Anzar High football team that was on the field Saturday at Treasure Island wasn’t the same squad that went 1-2 in its first three games of the season — literally.
Aided by the return of four prominent starters, the Hawks ran roughshod over host Stuart Hall-San Francisco, 46-20, in a game that was even more lopsided than the final score indicated.
Anzar (2-2) led 46-0 with 9:58 left in the third quarter when the Stuart Hall (1-3) coaches requested to the referees to start a running clock.
“It’s a great feeling when you can get up that much and know the players did everything they were supposed to do and more,” Hawks coach Luis Espinoza said.
From the start of the season, Espinoza said he would have a much stronger team once four of his starters — Jose Casaneda, Sergio Gonzalez, Angel Jimenez and Fermin Banuelos — returned after missing the first three games due to grades, and his statement was spot on.
All four players made a huge impact, none bigger than Gonzalez, who rushed for a game-high 134 yards on 16 carries, including touchdown runs of 10, 3, 2 and 18 yards.
“The offensive line did their job, and I just did my job,” Gonzalez said. “It’s all instincts when I’m out there running. I feel excited about where our team is headed. I think we can go undefeated the rest of the way.”
Espinoza promised to open up the offense a bit more once his team was back at full strength, but he didn’t have to against the Knights, who were simply out-manned in every phase of the game.
When it did go to the air, Anzar showed enough in the passing game to make future opponents think twice about loading up the box to stop the team’s running attack.
Sam Jimenez had an ultra-efficient day, completing 6-of-7 passes for 102 yards, including a beautiful 41-yard TD strike to tight end Victor Flores (four receptions, 73 yards), who was so wide open in the middle of the field — there wasn’t a defender within 15 yards — that he was able to practically stroll into the end zone.
“It had been bothering me that we haven’t been able to get Victor more involved in the offense this season like we did last year,” Espinoza said. “He’s one of our biggest weapons, and hopefully this will be a sign of things to come.”
If not for a dropped pass and several botched snaps and handoffs, the Hawks could’ve scored on eight of their 10 possessions. As such, they scored on six of them. Anzar’s defense and special teams units also were effective, as Banuelos blocked a punt and Tyler Hendricks had an interception.
Jimenez was a force at linebacker, and defensive linemen Izaiah Ornelas, Andrew Huaracha and Izaac Ornelas played an instrumental role in limiting the Knights to 158 yards of total offense.
Despite the dominating victory, the Hawks started to lose focus near the end of the third quarter, and they never got it back the rest of the game. If Anzar did everything correct in the first three periods, it did everything wrong in the fourth. Botched snaps, missed handoffs and several missed tackles lowlighted the team’s performance at the end.
“We can’t really celebrate too much because of that fourth quarter,” Espinoza said. “We’ll learn from it and get it out of our system.”
