EAGLES WIN AGAIN

Tony Altobelli

GARDEN GROVE - Garden Grove High, kept the ball out of Estancia’s

Marshall Hendricks’ hands on kickoffs, punts and any other way humanly

possible.

Too bad they couldn’t break up the Eagles’ handoffs.

The senior running back rushed for 195 yards on a season-high 25

carries and one touchdown to lead the Eagles to their third-straight win,

21-18 over the Argonauts.

“What a great win tonight was for us,” Coach Dave Perkins said. “We

did what we had to do to be successful and that was minimize our mistakes

and capitalize on their mistakes.”

The mistakes Perkins was referring to were the 15 penalties for 111

yards and three turnovers by Garden Grove (1-2).

Even more costly to the Argonauts were the point-after attempts as

Garden Grove went 0 for 3, giving a three-point win to the Eagles.

Estancia got the offense going quickly, scoring on a seven-play,

65-yard drive, 31 yards coming on a Hendricks touchdown run.

The Eagles’ extra point was missed and Garden Grove scored on its

opening possession when Eddy Vailolo scampered in from four yards out,

tying the game at 6-6.

Just before the end of the first quarter Cesar Romero recovered an

Argos fumble at midfield and Estancia drove 50 yards to score again.

Hendricks accumulated 31 yards on the drive, but it was Matt Mueller

who scored his first of two one-yard touchdowns on the night. Hendricks

threw a pass to Andy Romo for a successful two-point conversion to give

Estancia a 14-6 lead. Garden grove answered back again with a eight-play,

53-yard scoring drive.

Vailolo scored again, this time on a 41-yard pass from backup

quarterback Matt Crippen to cut the lead to 14-12.

The two-point attempt was stopped on solid coverage by Romo and Josh

Veach and the Eagles led, 14-12 at halftime.

Argos’ running back Bryan Loken was matching Hendricks, yard for yard,

rushing for 80 yards on 11 carries in the first half (Hendricks had 105

yards on 13 carries).

“At halftime, we made some adjustments on stopping their running game

and for the most part, we were successful,” Perkins said.

Loken was held to only 15 yards on six carries the entire second half.

Garden Grove took the lead early in the third when Vailolo scored his

third touchdown, this time on a two-yard run, giving the Argos a 18-14

lead, but not for long.

Estancia, after two big runs from Hendricks, took the lead for good,

21-18, when Mueller slammed in from one yard out.

The Eagles are now 3-0 for only the 10th time in their 35-year history

and will take on Anaheim at home Friday.