Estancia football pulls away in second half in opener versus Loara
Leadership roles often go to those with experience, but two sophomores playing in their first varsity football games led Estancia to victory in its season opener.
Running back Alexis Galindo and defensive back Jordan Rooker starred in the visiting Eagles’ 31-6 win over Loara on Thursday in a nonleague game at Glover Stadium.
Galindo, who had a strip sack on defense in the first half, had 69 rushing yards and a touchdown after the break. He made a 24-yard scamper on his first touch to set up an Estancia score on his team’s first drive of the third quarter.
August Stanton pushed the ball across the goal line from two yards out a couple of plays later, extending the Eagles’ lead to 14-6.
“I came into this game being nervous,” Galindo said. “It was my first varsity game, and as the game went on, my anxiousness just went away. They play good. I started cramping. I should eat more. I was expecting a hard team, and they were a hard team.”
The defense then took over for Estancia, as the next three drives for Loara following the Stanton touchdown ended in an interception. Noah Aires, who recovered the fumble forced by Galindo, picked off a third-down pass.
Then Rooker stepped in front of a pass in the end zone for the second interception by the Eagles. He took it out of the end zone, but the return ended at the Estancia 40.
On his second opportunity, Rooker refused to be denied. Part of a double coverage scheme deep down the right sideline, Rooker brought in another interception and returned it 98 yards to stretch the lead to 24-6 with under nine minutes remaining.
“It was crazy,” Rooker said of his two-interception performance “The first one, I had so much adrenaline. The first one, I tripped over my own feet. Honestly, I was pretty upset because I could have [gone] all the way.
“The second one, I knew I had to go all the way. I had an open field. I just took it.”
Loara (0-2) won the CIF Southern Section Division 14 championship last season, but the Saxons found little success offensively. They took advantage of a drive that started across midfield late in the second quarter, as Dre Sanchez connected with Remy Ybarra for a 19-yard touchdown just 51 seconds before the break.
Riley Witte drew the start at quarterback for the Eagles, compiling 124 passing yards without a turnover. With Estancia backed up at its own 12-yard line, Witte appeared to throw Trey Sanchez open, but the pass fell incomplete.
“They’re CIF and state champions, so you got to respect that,” Witte said. “But coming in, we knew what we could do, so we just put it to them.”
On the next play, Aires broke loose for the game’s first score, an 88-yard rushing touchdown.
“He’s one of our leaders,” Estancia coach Mike Bargas said of Aires. “He’s our captain. He got a little banged up, and he snuck in a couple of times when I didn’t authorize him to go in there, so he’s just a competitor. Everybody rallies around him, and you need a few of those guys on the team.”
Nonleague
Estancia 31, Loara 6
SCORE BY QUARTERS
E — 8 – 0 – 9 – 14 — 31
L — 0 – 6 – 0 – 0 — 6
FIRST QUARTER
E — Aires 88 run (Galindo run), 0:00.
SECOND QUARTER
L — Ybarra 19 pass from Sanchez (Sanchez pass failed), 0:51.
THIRD QUARTER
E — Stanton 2 run (kick failed), 8:28.
E — Avalos 25 FG, 4:26.
FOURTH QUARTER
E — Rooker 98 interception return (Avalos kick), 8:50.
E — Galindo 10 run (Avalos kick), 0:47.
INDIVIDUAL RUSHING
E — Aires, 9-115, 1 TD.
L — Islas, 15-37.
INDIVIDUAL PASSING
E — Witte, 12-22-0, 124.
L — Sanchez, 10-37-3, 86, 1 TD.
INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING
E — T. Sanchez, 3-39.
L — Ybarra, 4-51, 1 TD.
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