Capital Christian smites Blazers

It's been a rebuilding year at Lindhurst High this fall, and just like every football program that's looking to find its way, there has been a few headaches. And for the Blazers, the growing pains came early when they struggled to an 0-5 start to the season.

But just as first-year coach Dan Crabtree predicted in September, the team has steadily improved as the season has progressed and entered Week 9 in the thick of the Golden Empire League title chase after stringing together three consecutive wins.

However, Lindhurst ran into another speed bump Friday night as an explosive Capital Christian squad struck for touchdowns on its first five possessions of the game and cruised to a 42-6 victory at Dean Miller Stadium in Olivehurst.

"We knew we could compete with them coming in, but they came up with the plays and we didn't tonight," Crabtree said. "It's still night and day from where we started and that's exciting for these kids. We're getting there."

The blowout win was nothing new for the Cougars (6-3, 5-0), who have steamrolled each of their five GEL opponents by a combined score of 222-28.

"We always try to stay balanced, and I think we were tonight," said Capital Christian coach Karl Zierhunt. "Our gameplan is to take what they're giving us and to not turn the ball over, so I couldn't be more pleased with the result."

While the Cougars' offensive balance was impressive, the ringleader was no doubt senior quarterback James Lee, who connected on 13 of his 18 pass attempts for 201 yards and four touchdowns in the game.

Lee was particularly impressive in the first half when he completed 7-of-8 for 128 yards and two touchdowns while helping his team to a comfortable 28-6 lead.

Lindhurst's only score came early in the second period when they answered the Cougars' first touchdown drive with one of their own to make the score 7-6.

AZ Sutton led the way by completing 3-of-4 passes for 29 yards and rushing twice for 19 additional yards on the drive. Sutton eventually found the end zone from 1-yard out on a fourth-down keeper and finished the evening with 131 yards passing to lead the Lindhurst offense.

Despite the loss, the Blazers (3-6, 3-2) did get strong performances from linebackers Edgar Guzman and Anthony Vega, as well as a stellar performance from Ricky Dalton, who made several big hits to stop Cougar ball carriers in their tracks.

Defensive lineman Joey Soto recorded a sack and Aaron Munday had a solid game defensively to go with his 43.5-yard average on four punts.

Lindhurst (4-5, 3-2) won the junior varsity game 26-6 behind two rushing touchdowns apiece from Diego Villasenor and Christian George.

Up next for the Blazers is next week's clash against Marysville with the winner advancing to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoffs.