FULLERTON – “Boy,” Fullerton co-coach Guz Martinez said without being prompted, “that was an ugly game. Did we go backwards more than we went forwards?”
Indeed, Fullerton and El Dorado played an ugly, sloppy, forgettable game Friday night. But gathering his thoughts before a scoreboard that read in his team’s favor, Martinez said he’d much rather it be “a sloppy win than a loss.”
The Indians scored touchdowns in each quarter, but received little else in between, beating El Dorado, 29-0, at Fullerton High.
“We didn’t have a good flow all night,” said Martinez, whose program last began a season 3-0 in 2013, when he and Ed De Avila were interim head coaches. “Defensively we had a good flow, but offensively we got out of a rhythm early and never found it.”
Fullerton scored on first-half runs by Ryan Rains and Demetrius Perry, then later on a 20-yard reception by Issac Alvarez, its offense sputtering regularly but effective enough at times to string together positive runs and occasional downfield completions.
Running back Marcus Roberson rushed for 96 yards before suffering what appeared to be a lower leg injury in the third quarter. His replacements, Tavion Davis and Arturo Bravo, ran well the rest of the evening.
Penalties began marring the game in the third quarter, Fullerton leading, 15-0, with possession near midfield.
A comedy of holding, false start, delay of game, personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct flags laundered the field, at one point creating a third-and-28 on a drive the Indians had picked up three first downs.
Neither team played well, or cleanly for that matter. Both inflicted wounds upon themselves, bungled plays and sacks kisses of offensive death. Fullerton turned the ball over on downs twice. El Dorado punted seven times.
El Dorado (0-2) managed little offensively, its yardage coming mostly on screens to running back Marcel Lyons. Credit Fullerton’s defensive line for regularly caving the line of scrimmage; Lyons rarely had room to run.
Without a useful running game, Golden Hawks quarterback Austin Shear was rushed into wayward throws. He threw plenty on the run, sailing passes as defensive linemen chased him out of the pocket. Shear completed 14 of 32 attempts for 104 yards.
Contact the writer: bwhitehead@ocregister.com
