Garden Grove Rolls Over Rancho Alamitos, 49-11

Garden Grove neutralized Rancho Alamitos’ high-octane passing attack Friday night and rolled to a 49-11 victory at Bolsa Grande High.

The visiting Argonauts (4-2, 3-0 in league) halted Rancho Alamitos quarterback Daniel Green’s aerial assault, intercepting six of his passes. The Vaqueros (1-5, 0-3) just couldn’t get their passing game going.

Green completed 18 of 45 passes for 258 yards and Maurice Garcia, who came into the game with a county-leading 640 receiving yards, was held to eight catches for 86 yards, the first time he has been held under 100 receiving this season.

The Argonauts opened the scoring three minutes into the first quarter when quarterback Matt Crippen hit a streaking Lui Ioane for a 42-yard touchdown strike.

Rancho Alamitos scored on the ensuing series on a 36-yard field goal by Jesse Strickland, but it was down hill from there. Senior defensive end Junior Diaz picked off Green twice in the fourth quarter in a three-minute span and returned both of them for touchdowns.

“We knew they were going to take to the air,” Diaz said. “We were prepared and our line had him on the run all night.”

Argonaut running back Sterling Trotter had five carries for 127 yards and Miguel Medina added 83 yards and a touchdown in six carries. He scored in the second quarter and the touchdown put the game out of reach, 28-3.