Colonists advance

ANAHEIM After coming close to a CIF Southern Division championship last year, senior tailback Matt Contreras said he knows what it takes to get back to the division finals. And on Friday night against Garden Grove, in front of a raucous crowd at Glover Stadium, he played like it.

Contreras scored four touchdowns and rushed for 163 hard-fought yards, and the Colonists made timely plays on defense and special teams as Anaheim (9-2) cruised to a 30-14 victory in a playoff opener.

“Our (playoff) experience last year really helped,” Contreras said. “We know what it takes now, and we will do whatever we can to get there. As long as we play mistake free football we’ll be fine.” 

Anaheim jumped to a 10-0 lead five minutes into the game behind Ramon Mejia’s 26 yard field goal and a Contreras touchdown, but he Contreras was silenced for the remainder of the first half on big plays by the Argonauts (6-5) defense. 

But Contreras sparked a second half surge with a 6-yard touchdown run on the first possession of the half and added  scores on runs of 5 and 18 yards to seal the victory. 

Aaron Nelson led Garden Grove with 87 yards rushing.   

Contact the writer: preps@ocregister.com