Blazers set date for Mariposa after 67-7 rout
The Lindhurst High football team left no doubt after its first-round Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoff game Friday night that it is on a mission to win an unprecedented third straight section championship.
Rick Davis threw two touchdown passes and ran for another to lead the Blazers to an 67-7 pounding over the Waterford Wildcats from the Southern League.
Lindhurst advances to the semifinals next Friday night as they travel to Mariposa to take on the Southern League champion Grizzles.
Lurrell Johnson added two touchdown runs of his own while Victor Arroyo hauled in both Davis touchdown passes. Angel Vega and Anthony Vega each contributed scoring runs as the Blazer offense was unstoppable all night. Lindhurst scored a total of 10 offensive touchdowns in 12 possessions.
"Tonight, we started seeing the seniors take over the game," said Lindhurst head coach Scott Albertson. "A lot of guys are three-year starters with playoff experience, and it showed tonight."
After dropping their season finale to Marysville last week and missing out on winning the Golden Empire League outright, the Blazers were forced to host a first-round game instead of getting a bye. But Albertson looked at last week's lose as a wake-up call for his team.
"The Marysville game was a rude awakening for us," he said. "It made us realize we have to work harder if we want to get far into the postseason."
Davis looked sharp all night in guiding the Blazers to the win. He finished with 12 completions in 17 attempts for 210 yards while looking comfortable in the pocket and throwing precision passes to his receivers. Eight of his completions went for 15 yards or more.
"Rick Davis had a great game," Albertson said.
The Blazer running game was clicking from the opening whistle. In addition to Johnson's two touchdowns, sophomore Brandon Vaitautolu chipped in two second-half touchdown runs of 26 and 22 yards.
While nearly everybody was scoring for the Blazers, Albertson was quick to point out that the credit for his team's success against Waterford was his offensive line.
"Our line play was much improved than last week," he said. "A dramatic improvement that reflected in the score tonight."
Angel Vega ran in from a yard out to open the scoring for the Blazers in the first quarter. The Wildcats marched right down the field and tied the game on a 16-yard run by quarterback Kyle Hopper. Two possessions later, the Blazers regained the lead for good on Davis's picture-perfect 24-yard scoring pass to a streaking Victor Arroyo down the sideline.
Waterford answered back with another long drive as the second quarter began. But on a fourth-and-4 at the Lindhurst 22, Hopper rolled out on a quarterback keeper and appeared to be heading for a first down. But Richard Dalton came up and cut him down a yard short to end the drive. The Wildcats would never get any closer the rest of the way.
"That play was a huge momentum swing for us," said Albertson.
From that point on, it was all Lindhurst on both sides of the ball. Davis hit Arroyo for a second time from 26 yards out to make the score 27-7 and Davis capped off the first half with a 17-yard run off a nice fake to Johnson.
In the second half, Johnson exploded for his two scoring runs, the first was a amazing 60-yard scoring run and the second was a 3-yarder that made the score 47-7. He finished with 130 yards on 11 carries.
Anthony Vega scored a fourth-quarter touchdown of five yards sandwiched around Vaitautolu's scoring runs to cap the scoring for the Blazers.
A.Z. Sutton and Kenderick Jones each had interceptions for Lindhurst as the defense recovered two second-half fumbles.
As for next week's opponents, Albertson has heard they are big and physical.
"Other coaches have told me Mariposa is like a machine," he said. "It will absolutely be a test for us."
