GARDEN GROVE – The Garden Grove football team turned in what could be fairly described as a solid team effort Thursday night.
Running back Jordan Antunez gained some tough yards on the ground, quarterback Josh Green completed eight of his 10 passes and Malik Bilal intercepted a pair of passes, returning one for a touchdown, to lead the Argonauts to a 35-14 nonleague victory over visiting University.
“It was a great effort,” Garden Grove coach Ricardo Cepeda said. “Our kids stepped up, the defense played well. The two times they scored they had a short field off of fumbles. We have to eliminate the turnovers to get better.”
The Argonauts improved their record to 4-1 as they head into the start of Garden Grove League play next week. University dropped to 3-2.
One of Garden Grove’s highlight-reel plays came on Bilal’s second interception of the game. The junior grabbed the ball at about the 45, raced up the field, cut out to his left, made another move to avoid a defender and made it to the end zone.
“I was trying to not get caught from behind,” Bilal said.
His first interception came in the second quarter, and that led to a touchdown.
“He ran all the way to the left, all the way to right,” Cepeda said. “We’ve been harping on Malik to get out there. He played well and had a great return.
“He’s one of those guys, last year he played JV and this year, he’s playing some tight end, he’s had a couple of big catches and he’s playing outside linebacker and safety for us. He’s coming along and getting better every week.”
Antunez finished with 150 yards on 21 carries and a pair of touchdowns (30 and 2 yards).
Austen Christian also had a pair of touchdowns, one rushing and one receiving.
Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com
