Create your own site

Headlines

Subscribe to our Newsletter






vs



Click here to view ......Photo Gallery



Highlights Uploaded Soon





Headlines Guestbook | Search


WaveNewspapers.com: Roosevelt's Ayon has big game in win over H.P.


By RON GUILD, Sports Editor

Story Published: Oct 7, 2009 at 2:05 PM PDT


Manny Ayon made the switch from wide receiver to quarterback more out of necessity than anything last Friday.


He made the most of it.


Moved to the spot after starter Brandon Sifuentes was declared out with a concussion suffered the week before against Whittier, Ayon rushed for four touchdowns and passed for another as Roosevelt High School raced past Huntington Park, 35-7 in an Eastern League football opener.


The win enables the Rough Riders (4-1 overall) to take a 1-0 league record into Friday’s home game with Jordan (2-3, 1-0), a 7-0 winner over Garfield last Friday.


Ayon, who rushed for 147 yards on 11 carries and completed six of seven passes for 77 yards, scored on runs of 58, 15 and 11 yards during a second quarter in which the Riders were building a 21-0 lead.


After Huntington Park (2-3) scored on its first possession of the second half, Roosevelt struck again as Ayon raced 31 yards for his fourth TD of the night, then passed 20 yards to Elgin Rosales to complete the scoring.


“Manny really carried the load,” Rider coach Javier Cid said. “He became our next logical choice at quarterback because he has been the backup. We kind of went to a wildcat offense with him in there.”


Ayon, an All-City wide receiver in previous years, overcame two early fumbles before triggering an explosive offense.


Rosales, the fullback, came in for special praise from Cid.


In addition to his 39 yards on three receptions and 63 yards on six carries, Rosales was cited for his all-around game.


“He did a great job of blocking,” the coach said. “He’s one of the keys in our offense because we need him to run, block and catch.”


Tailback Jesse Lira added 93 yards on 12 carries.


Defensively, end Ronnie Lazo was the team’s MVP, according to Cid.


“He was our main force on defense,” he said. “He did a terrific job of taking on two blockers and allowing others to make tackles.”


Armando Perez had an interception, Alex Herrera recovered a fumble and inside linebacker Ricardo Marroquin had two sacks.


Roosevelt now takes on Jordan, which it upset a year ago.


Cid realizes it won’t be easy knocking off the Bulldogs in back-to-back seasons.


First, they’ll need to find a way to corral Jordan’s speedy skill players, one in particular.


“It’s going to take a huge effort on our part to compete with these guys,” he said. “(Deshawn) Beck is a hard guy to lasso. We’re going to try and duplicate Garfield’s game plan and pound them as much as we can. We did it last year.”


WaveNewspapers.com