GARDEN GROVE – Before Friday night’s CIF-SS Southern Division second-round playoff game against Brea Olinda, Garden Grove coach Ricardo Cepeda predicted it was going to be a “dogfight.”
Cepeda couldn’t have labeled it any better, as his Argonauts held on for a hard-fought, 21-18 victory at Garden Grove.
Alex Ceja and Jordan Antunez combined to rush for 347 yards and three touchdowns to lead Garden Grove, which has won 10 consecutive games and will play El Modena in a semifinal next Friday at El Modena.
“At the beginning of the year, we made it a goal to win it all,” said Ceja, who had touchdown runs of 95 and 11 yards.
“Our offensive line carried us,” said Cepeda, whose team finished with 375 yards on the ground and did not attempt a pass. “We thought Brea was one of the best teams, and El Mo is going to be hungry, but this is an amazing win for us.”
After a sluggish first quarter, Garden Grove (11-1) picked it up a notch in the second quarter.
Trailing, 3-0, Ceja took a snap in a wildcat formation and raced 95 yards to give the Argonauts a 7-3 lead with 8:27 left before halftime.
Two plays later, cornerback Austen Christian leaped high in the air to intercept a Nick Drury pass at the Argonauts’ 42-yard line.
Garden Grove then drove 58 yards in eight plays, extending its lead to 14-3 on a 27-yard run by Antunez.
“Heck yeah, the interception changed the momentum of the game,” Christian said. “We’re going to take it to El Mo next week.”
However, Noah Rivera returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown to trim the lead to 14-10.
The Argonauts countered with an eight-play, 90-yard drive that was capped by Ceja’s 11-yard TD run, giving Garden Grove a 21-10 lead going to halftime.
The Wildcats drove to the Garden Grove 8-yard line late in the third quarter but missed a 24-yard field-goal attempt.
With 2:29 to play, Drury tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to Matt Christ. The pair hooked up again for a two-point conversion and Brea Olinda trailed by three.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats (6-6), the Argonauts produced their only first downs of the second half (not counting ones that resulted from Brea penalties) on their final drive and ran out the clock to seal the victory.
“It was a battle, and they’re a really good team,” Brea coach Robb Perrance said. “All the power to them; they played hard.”
Billy Hanley rushed for 100 yards and Drury passed for 110 and a touchdown for the Wildcats.
