By RON GUILD, Sports Editor

Story Published: Oct 28, 2009 at 12:48 PM PST

Based on win-loss records, this had all the makings of a down-to-the-wire game.

But Roosevelt High School turned this matchup of 5-1 teams into a mismatch by steamrolling Bell, 27-0 last Friday in an Eastern League football game.

Roosevelt improved to 3-0 in league and dropped the Eagles to 2-2 against league competition.

Most of the domination was up front where the Rough Riders controlled both lines of scrimmage. They amassed 249 yards rushing, another 90 passing and held an 18-6 edge in first downs. Bell was limited to 100 yards of total offense, including 16 net yards rushing. The Rider defense sacked Bell quarterback Adrian Lopez six times for 39 yards in losses.

“Our inside front guys controlled both lines,” Roosevelt coach Javier Cid said.

As for all the sacks, he said, “That’s big for us. We worked a lot on that in practice.”

The line’s control up front was also evident in the length of the scoring drives.

The Rough Riders went 95 yards for their first score, a one-yard run by quarterback Manny Ayon (10 carries for 111 yards, two touchdowns), and 82 yards for their second, a 13-yard run by tailback Jesse Lira (nine carries for 81 yards).

In the second half, they added touchdowns on a 14-yard pass from Ayon to fullback Elgin Rosales and a 38-yard run by Ayon, the converted wide receiver.

Bell actually got off to a good start by driving all the way to the Roosevelt five on its first possession before the Rider defense stiffened and held on downs.

The Eagles would not threaten again, largely due to the likes of Ronnie Lazo, Ricardo Marroquin and Alex Herrera putting all that pressure on Lopez (9-of-13 for 84 yards) and shutting down the Eagle ground attack. Jose Barba rushed for a team-high 36 yards for Bell, virtually none of it after the opening drive.

“I thought the defense was great for us,” Cid said.

Offensively, the philosophy is two heads are better than one. The splitting of quarterback duties between Ayon and Brandon Sifuentes, who was 4-of-5 for 60 yards against Bell, is growing on Cid week by week.

“I like the one-two punch at quarterback,” the coach said. “They both work hard in practice and both do a good job in games. They give us options and teams have to prepare for both.”

Roosevelt hosts South Gate (2-5, 0-3) at 7 p.m. Friday. The Rams are coming off a 24-21 loss to Huntington Park.

Emmanuel Leyva, who was 9-of-25 for 225 yards and two TDs and ran for a score, and Mario Avalos, who caught five passes for 159 yards and a TD, are players to watch for South Gate. So is running back Chris Bucknor, who scored a TD against the Spartans.

“They’re a young team and much improved,” Cid said.

Source: WaveNewspapers.com