Santiago Defense Too Much for Garden Grove

GARDEN GROVE — Santiago’s defense held Garden Grove scoreless for three quarters and the Cavaliers rolled to a 35-13 victory in a Garden Grove League game Friday at Garden Grove.

“I was more pleased with our defense than our offense,” Santiago Coach Ben Haley said.

The Cavaliers (3-2, 2-0) held Garden Grove (0-5, 0-2) to 25 yards total offense in the first half and allowed their own offense to build a 21-0 halftime lead.

With 5 minutes and 30 seconds left to play in the first quarter, Santiago’s Carlos Carbajal recovered a fumbled punt return on Garden Grove’s 24-yard line. Octavio Villa scored four plays later on a nine-yard touchdown run.

Santiago then scored twice in the second quarter. The first came on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Ben Tran to George Ponce. Santiago’s defense held during the Argonauts’ next possession and that set up a one-yard touchdown run by Tran with 7 seconds left in the half.

Late in the third quarter, Carbajal scored on a 4-yard run. Carbajal then scored again on a five-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give Santiago a 35-0 lead.

Garden Grove finally scored when Brandon M. Jones recovered a fumbled snap in the end zone. A 16-yard touchdown pass from Faustino Campa to Ulysses Linares with 2:04 to play provided the Argonauts with their only offensive score.