ORANGE – Garden Grove was not having an easy time of it.
The Argonauts took a six-point lead into the fourth quarter. In that final quarter, they got four turnovers and scored 24 points to beat El Modena, 30-0, Friday in a CIF-Southern Section Southern Division semifinal playoff game at El Modena High.
Garden Grove (12-1) advances to the Southern Division championship game for the third year in a row. The Argonauts will play Rancho Alamitos (11-2) in the division final next Saturday at Orange Coast College.
Garden Grove finished first and Rancho Alamitos was third in the Garden Grove League. Garden Grove defeated Rancho Alamitos, 35-7, in a league game Oct. 9.
Riley Hoalton had two interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown. Austen Christian and Juan Ossa also had interceptions.
The Argonauts took a 6-0 lead into the fourth quarter. One minute into the fourth quarter, Tony Gligore kicked a 23-yard field goal to make it 9-0. Christian’s interception, his third in the past three weeks, gave Garden Grove the ball at the El Modena 26-yard line. Alex Ceja got the touchdown on a 1-yard run to increase the lead to 16-0.
On El Modena’s ensuing possession, on the Vanguards’ first play from scrimmage, Garden Grove’s Ossa was able to hang on to a pass that hit him in the midsection.
Garden Grove was unable to capitalize on that turnover, but it did so on the next one. Gligore recovered an El Modena fumble at the El Modena 18, and two plays later Joseph Camarillo scored on an 11-yard run to make it 23-0.
On El Modena’s ensuing possession, Hoalton made his second interception and returned it 51 yards for a touchdown and a 30-0 lead.
Friday’s win was the Argonauts’ fourth shutout. Their other shutouts were against Westminster in a nonleague game, Bolsa Grande in a league game and Calvary Chapel in a first-round playoff game.
El Modena finished 5-8. The Vanguards advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2002.
Vanguards coach Ed Drzanek liked the way his team hung in there with the top-seeded Argos.
“Obviously,” he said, “I don’t like the final score. You turn the ball over that many times against a quality team like Garden Grove and a quality team will take advantage of it.
“But this season was a step in the right direction.”
Indeed, some alums who played on El Modena’s Bob Lester-coached teams that did so well in the late 1970s and early ‘80s were at Friday’s game, including quarterback Bobby Frasco and running back Jim Torok.
Garden Grove won a CIF title in 2010. The Argos lost to Corona del Mar in the Southern Division finals in 2012 and last year. Corona del Mar and the rest of the Pacific Coast League were moved to the Southwest Division before this season.
Hoalton is excited about the chance to make up for the finals losses and that Rancho Alamitos will be this year’s opponent.
“This is good for our league,” Hoalton said. “This will get our league on the map.”
Hoalton’s first interception led to Garden Grove’s first touchdown, a 22-yard pass from Josh Green to Christian. Green and Ceja took turns at quarterback. The extra-point kicked missed, leaving the score at 6-0, which the score would remain until the fourth-quarter onslaught.
Camarillo rushed for 81 yards on nine carries. Christian had four receptions for 50 yards.
El Modena running back Kennth Lamb rushed for 98 yards on 23 carries.
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com