RANCHO ALAMITOS (11-2) VS. GARDEN GROVE (12-1)
Where, when: Orange Coast College, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Live web coverage: foxsports/west/prepzone
Outlook: It is a matchup of Garden Grove League teams. Garden Grove beat Rancho Alamitos, 35-7, in the league opener for both on Oct. 9. Jordan Antunez rushed for 209 yards and three touchdowns for Garden Grove, and Alejandro Ceja rushed for 139 yards and a touchdown. Rancho Alamitos quarterback Nick Brown had a rare off-night. He completed 11 of 25 passes for 169 yards, his lowest yardage total of the year. Brown went on to a record-breaking season. His 52 touchdown passes is the Orange County single-season record. He has completed 256 of his 409 throws for 3,968 yards and is averaging 305 passing yards a game. Brown has thrown seven interceptions. Four Rancho receivers have 40 or more receptions. Joe Lainez has 77 catches for 1,259 yards and 17 touchdowns. Devin Velez has 69 catches for 1,134 yards and 17 touchdowns. Jordan Kanyavong is Rancho’s leading rusher with 789 yards. Antunez has rushed for 1,515 yards and 17 touchdowns and is averaging 7 yards a carry. Ceja has rushed for 849 yards and 18 touchdowns and is averaging 9 yards a carry. Josh Green takes plenty of snaps at quarterback for the Argos. Green has passed for 511 yards and four touchdowns. Ceja has thrown for 746 yards and 10 touchdowns. Austen Christian has 37 receptions for Garden Grove, for 694 yards and seven touchdowns. Chrisitan also had seven interceptions. Mark Reyes is Rancho’s leading tackler, with 116 total tackles. Garden Grove’s Michael Vacairo has 95 tackles. Rancho Alamitos’ most-recent victory over Garden Grove was in 2011, when the Vaqueros beat the Argonauts, 41-14, on their way to winning the league championship with a 5-0 league record. Garden Grove leads the series that started in 1958, 29-26-2. Rancho Alamitos is in a CIF championship football game for the third time. The Vaqueros lost in CIF finals in 1992 and ‘93. Garden Grove lost CIF football finals in 2009, ‘12 and ‘13 – the past two years the losses were to Corona del Mar – and won a CIF football championship in 2010.
COACH’S SCOUTING REPORT
Westminster coach Ted McMillen’s team played Garden Grove in a nonleague game and played Rancho Alamitos in a playoff game. Here is McMillen’s scouting report on the teams:
McMillen on Rancho Alamitos: “This is a classic game, a classic matchup. You have a team with a great passing offense, Rancho Alamitos, that is totally built on throwing the ball. And with the other team you have a team that is about running the ball and playing great defense. That Rancho quarterback, Nick Brown, is legit. In our division, he’s basically Aaron Rodgers. What Brown has done statistically is unbelievable. What Rancho needs to do to win this game is to get some early success. If they can do that and stop Grove from pounding the ball, then their chances to win this game go way up.”
McMillen on Garden Grove: “It’s fairly obvious what has to happen for Grove, and we saw it when we looked closely at the film of Garden Grove-Rancho when we prepared to play Rancho. Grove has to get a couple of early stops on defense and control the ball from there. You could see it in the film. Grove is pounding the ball, and the Rancho quarterback can’t get any rhythm going because he’s standing on the sideline and Grove is controlling the ball. So that’s the key for Grove again, don’t let Brown get going early and get control of the game with your defense and your running game.”
OC VARSITY PREDICTION
If the Vaqueros can take an early lead and build upon it, they can win. As a running team, Garden Grove lacks the comeback capability of a passing team. Conversely, Rancho Alamitos’ passing attack gives the Vaqueros comeback potential. But that comeback would have to come against an outstanding Garden Grove defense. Garden Grove’s ability to run the ball, to collect first downs and control the clock, and that Argos defense will lead Grove to a 28-14 win.
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PROBABLE LINEUPS
GARDEN GROVE
Offense
Alejandro Ceja, QB
Kirk Hulrey, FB
Jordan Antunez, RB
Malik Balil, WR
Reily Hoalton, WR
Michael Trujillo, TE
Marcos Horduno, OL
Ricardo Aguilar, OL
Gerardo Rodarte, OL
Juan Ossa, OL
Matthew Goldowski, OL
Daniel Barajas, K
Defense
Tony Gilgore, DL
Nathan Garcia, DL
Jesse Vazquez, DL
Gerardo Rodarte, DL
Michael Vaicaro, LB
Daniel Orellana, LB
Malik Balil, DB
Chris Ramirez, DB
Alejandro Ceja, DB
Austen Christian, DB
Riley Hoalton, DB
Alejandro Ceja, P
RANCHO ALAMITOS
Offense
Nick Brown, QB
Justin Kanyavong, RB
Joe Navar, WR
Alberto Meneses, WR
Joseph Lainez, WR
Devin Velez, WR
Rene Trujillo, OL
Fabian Rosas, OL
Juan Ochoa, OL
Francisco, Andrade, OL
Alex Valenzuela, OL
Emmanuel Cuevas, K
Defense
Noah Tilaia, DL
Rene Lizaola, DL
Franky Gonzalez, DL
Saiui Tilaia, DL
Nathaniel Brown, LB
Robert Tran, LB
Mark Reyes, LB
Wilson Tran, LB
Arturo Salazar, DB
Alberto Meneses, DB
Matthew Finona, DB
Emmanuel Cuevas, P
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
