LOS ALAMITOS – Los Alamos erupted for 28 points in the second quarter and its defense did the rest, as the Griffins rolled to a second straight rout and beat visiting Narbonne 49-6 in a nonleague football game Friday night.
The Griffins (2-0) ran through Narbonne (1-1) for 328 yards on the ground, led by Lenny Ibarra with 170 yards and touchdowns of 90 and 46 on just seven carries. Jerod Terry ran18 times for 124 yards and three scores.
Coming off a 71-0 victory over Western in its season opener, the Griffins were checking themselves after a scoreless first quarter.
“We were hoping for a faster start,” Ibarra said. “That first quarter we came out a little slow. Then we just got our momentum, started rolling and just kept putting points on the board.”
Los Al got the first big break when the Gauchos muffed a punt early in the second quarter. Given new life, runs of 17 yards by Matt Williams and Terry helped put the ball at the Narbonne 3 and Terry scored from 3 yards out.
Another special teams mistake set the Griffins up, taking over at the Narbonne 19 when a bad punt snap resulted in a 20-yard loss. Quarterback Alonzo Espinoza found tight end Beckham Hofland for a 16-yard completion to the Gauchos 1, and Terry scored on the next play for a 14-0 lead.
Ibarra’s next carry may not have been the game winner but it was the back-breaker. The Griffins stopped the Gauchos at their own 26, but two straight penalties pushed them back to the 10-yard line.
In a matter of moments, momentum was firmly seized by Los Alamitos, when Ibarra took an inside handoff and broke through the line tor a 90-yard TD run.
“It was a little slow at first because it’s a new play, but my O-line opened a big hole for me, and I kind of exploded and ran as fast as I could,” he said. “That TD goes to my O-line. They always have my back.”
A 34-yard touchdown by Terry on the last play of the half gave Los Alamitos a 28-0 lead.
The only question remaining was whether Los Al would get its second straight shutout. The Griffins had six tackles for loss, including two sacks Jason Rengner. They forced one turnover, when a gang tackle popped the ball loose from Da’Mari Hall and Hunter Tago sue picked it up in midair and returned it 23 yards to the Narbonne 17. That led to a 6-yard TD from Terry.
The shutout ended with 3:32 left in the game when Narbonne’s Jaden O’Neal connected with Hall for a 41-yard TD on fourth-and-2. With a running clock, it turned out to be Narbonne’s final play of the game.
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