Estancia comes through

BUENA PARK — With second down and 40 yards to go, eyes turned to Estancia High football coach Mike Bargas.

The Eagles were trying to nurse a fourth-quarter lead Thursday night at Buena Park High, and two penalties didn’t help.

“I told our principal, Phil D’Agostino, I don’t have that in my game plan,” Bargas said. “I don’t have a second-and-40 in the [play]book.”

As was the case for most of the night, senior running back Alex Abalos knew what to do.

He took a screen pass from senior quarterback Alek Kirshner and turned it into a 45-yard score, one of several big plays by Abalos in the Eagles’ 33-14 nonleague win.

Abalos also rushed for a career-high 193 yards on 15 carries, and the two longest runs were also touchdowns. On the second, a 55-yard run, two Buena Park defenders appeared to have the angle but Abalos sped past both of them down the Coyotes’ sideline.

“We had some great blocking tonight,” said Abalos, who benefited from the holes created by, among others, Tony Toledo, McCanne Sanford, Diego Moya and Josh Dominguez. “The offensive line really stepped it up and we found some plays that were good for us. Plus, the defense got some good stops.”

The Eagles (2-1) led just 13-6 at halftime, but Abalos scored on the 55-yard run. The Eagles then used the screen pass to Abalos with less than eight minutes left in the fourth quarter and, after the Buena Park punter was tackled by a gang of Eagles at his own three-yard line, Estancia sophomore back Alex Trancoso ran in the gift-wrapped TD to cap the Estancia scoring.

“We knew we could do better than we did in the first half,” Abalos said. “We knew we had more in us than just a couple of touchdowns.”

Buena Park relied on a heavy dose of senior running back Jimmy Davis, who broke tackles and punished the Eagles for 280 yards and two touchdowns by himself. But the Coyotes (1-2) had no passing yards until midway through in the fourth quarter.

Junior defensive back Matt Carlyle had a pair of first-quarter interceptions for Estancia, the first on a ball tipped by senior Angel Pacheco.

“Every week we’re getting a little bit better, so it’s kind of nice,” Bargas said. “We could have come out flat — it’s a Thursday night game — but we have a good group of kids.”

Estancia 33, Buena Park 14

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Estancia 7-6-6-14--33

Buena Park 0-6-0-8--14

FIRST QUARTER

Est – Davis 2 run (Diego kick), 8:02.

SECOND QUARTER

Est – Abalos 71 run (kick blocked), 5:24.

BP – Davis 56 run (run failed), 3:42.

THIRD QUARTER

Est – Abalos 55 run (kick missed), 11:29.

FOURTH QUARTER

Est – Abalos 45 pass from A. Kirshner (Gutierrez pass from A. Kirshner), 7:35.

Est – Trancoso 3 run (kick missed), 5:06.

BP – Davis 16 run (Olmos run), 2:30.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

Est – Abalos, 15-193, 2 TDs; Davis, 4-29, 1 TD; Trancoso, 7-19, 1 TD; Kirshner, 2-5.

BP – Davis, 30-280, 2 TDs; Olmos, 2-23; Monje, 1-2; Verdugo, 2-minus-4; Nelson, 5-minus-8.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

Est – A. Kirshner, 8-12-0, 105, 1 TD.

BP – Nelson, 3-10-2, 20.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

Est – Abalos, 2-53, 1 TD; Gutierrez, 3-27; Calabrese, 3-25.

BP – Gibson, 2-20; Davis, 1-0.