PLACENTIA - Esperanza quarterback Drew Huusfeldt acknowledge he was nervous before his first varsity start.

However, in the fourth quarter, the junior didn’t perform as if he were a rookie.

Huusfeldt converted two crucial third downs that eventually led to the winning touchdown, a 1-yard score for Jared Moore with 6:12 remaining to lead the seventh-ranked Aztecs to a 12-9 home victory over Santiago of Corona at Valencia on Friday night.

“We’ve ran those plays over and over,” Huusfeldt said. “It was kind of like repetition. I saw it (the plays) open, and I hit it.”

Esperanza entered the fourth quarter trailing, 7-6. On a third-and-10 from the Santiago 34, Huusfeldt connected with Sean McDonald for an 11-yard pass and a first down. Later in the drive, he found fullback Dustin Derieg for a 17-yard pass to move the ball to the 1, setting up  Moore's scoring run.

“He did a great job,” Esperanza coach Bill Pendleton said of Huusfeldt. “He can throw the ball, if they’re going to put eight guys in the box and play three deep, there are things you can to throw the ball … so, you can’t take everything away.”

The Aztecs finally got their running game working with Jared Moore leading the way. Moore finished with 112 yards on 18 carries.

“We had guys in different spots, and we were trying to plug guys in,” Pendleton said. “And we kept getting penalties to stop ourselves.”

Then the defense took over.

The Aztecs have only two starters returning from last year’s defensive unit, but they shut out the Sharks in the second half.

Santiago quarterback Brandon Connette completed nine of 18 passes for 93 yards.

“They’re a quality team,” Pendleton said. “They were ranked eighth in the state by Calpreps.com, so I’m happy.”

Esperanza limited Santiago tight end Marlion Barnett, who has received scholarship offers from several schools on the West Coast and the Midwest, including Washington, Minnesota and Boise State to only two catches.

“The guys did a great job,” Pendleton said. “Even though that quarterback (Brandon Connette) is a stud that he would at least have some difficulty because we do so many things on defense.

“In the second half, we got things together and started to move the ball. We kind of wore them out a little bit. We came at the half and took the ball 80 yards on the first drive and then we took it 82 again.”

Esperanza was picked to finished third in the Sunset League by the coaches in the preseason poll.

“I learned that we will battle,” Pendleton said. “It is more character than anything else, I knew the ability.”
 

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Contact the writer: dcalhoun@ocregister.com