By RON GUILD, Sports Editor

Story Published: Sep 30, 2009 at 2:11 PM PDT

Taking better care of the football will be priority number one for Roosevelt High School in Friday’s Eastern League opener at Huntington Park.

The Rough Riders (2-2) didn’t take such good care of it last Friday and lost to Whittier, 28-21.

Five of their 10 posssessions resulted in turnovers (three interceptions, two fumbles). Four of the six possessions in the second half ended with turnvovers and the Cardinals converted two into touchdowns.

“We just have to protect the ball better,” Roosevelt coach Javier Cid said. “You can’t turn it over like that. You do and it will hurt you in the Eastern League.

“Against Whittier, we put our defense on the field way too many times.”

In Huntington Park (2-2), the Riders are facing a tough-minded opponent that relies heavily on the run. Jorge Rios, a 6-foot, 210-pound senior, is the focal point of the offense.

“This is a very tough Huntington Park team that runs the ball well,” Cid said. “They have the leading rusher in the Eastern League. We’ve got to stop him. They also have a couple of other good runners.”

Roosevelt had bright spots against Whittier.

Jesse Lira carried 19 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns and Brandon Sifuentes was 11-of-17 for 182 yards, including a 42-yard scoring pass to Manny Ayon. The negative, though, was the three interceptions he threw.

Whittier’s Matt Viramontes was 9-of-12 for 162 yards and three TDs and Bryan Carrillo carried nine times for 77 yards and a TD.

Source: WaveNewspapers.com