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Roosevelt covers lots of ground in victory

By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 09.OCT.08

Jesse Diaz has engineered some impressive offensive showings over the last three years, but the Roosevelt High School senior quarterback may have outdone himself in last Friday’s 32-13 win over South Gate.

The win in the Eastern League football opener for both schools improved the Rough Riders to 4-1 overall. South Gate is 1-4.

The numbers for Diaz were impressive enough — He was 18-for-30 for 226 yards and three touchdowns through the air and rushed for 101 yards on eight carries.

But the team’s numbers were even more impressive — 550 yards total, including 324 on the ground.

“We didn’t have one punt,” Roosevelt coach Javier Cid said. “We either went for it on fourth down in the red zone or we tried to kick field goals (two, which were missed). And Jesse had a big day.”

Diaz had 25- and 16-yard touchdown passes to Matthew Trillo and a 21-yarder to Jose Guillen.

Jonathan Alatriste scored the first touchdown on a seven-yard run.

Sophomore third-string tailback Isaac Huerta, playing mostly in the fourth quarter, carried 15 times for 86 yards and scored on a three-yard run with 11 seconds left.

The Rough Riders used eight different ball carriers and nine different receivers. Manny Ayon was the top pass catcher with four for 48 yards.

The first-team defense limited the Rams to two first downs. South Gate got two more in the fourth quarter against Rough Riders backups.

Next on the schedule for Roosevelt is Bell (3-1), a 35-0 loser to Garfield in its league opener.

“Bell lost its quarterback, so I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Cid said. “I know they have a strong offensive line and are very good offensively. They are an experienced team with a lot of returnees.

“Garfield beat them, 35-0, but a lot of that had to do with the quarterback going out in the second quarter.”