LA HABRA – Each week Buena Park coach Anthony White chooses a word to use as motivation for his players.
This week, White emphasized the word ‘effort.’
The Coyotes responded with an impressive effort Thursday. Quarterback Zach Taylor threw four touchdown passes and ran for a TD to lead the Coyotes to a 42-21 victory over Sonora in a Freeway League game at La Habra High.
“The hard work is starting to pay off, but we’re not done yet,” said Taylor, who completed 14 passes for 304 yards. “We kept our poise and came out out of a slump in the first quarter.”
Buena Park’s win qualifies the Coyotes (3-1, 8-1) for the CIF playoffs with one regular-season game remaining. Sonora (1-3, 6-3) lost its third consecutive game and fell out of playoff contention.
“The last four out of five years Buena Park has made the playoffs, and we want to continue to build our program and make our community proud,” said White.
After a sluggish first quarter, Buena Park erupted for four touchdowns in a span of 3:20 of the second quarter to take control of the game.
Marcus Loudon gave the Coyotes a 7-0 lead o a 25-yard TD run at the 9:12 mark of the second quarter. Moments later, Taylor fired a 62-yard TD strike to Max Rivera.
Buena Park’s defense then forced a turnover that led to a Taylor 23-yard touchdown run. Following an interception by Jaylinn Hawkins, Taylor drilled a 17-yard TD pass to Hawkins upping the Buena Park lead to 28-0.
Hawkins finished the game with 10 caches for 168 yards and three TDs. He caught touchdown passes of 35 and 54 yards in the second half.
Jacob Fimbres scored a TD late in the half to cut Buena Park’s lead to 28-7 at intermission. Fimbres rushed for 91 yards and scored all three touchdowns for the Raiders.
Fimbres leads the county with 29 TDs.
