Vaqueros rout East L.A. 45-13 for 2nd straight win

Brandon Edwards threw three first-half touchdowns on Saturday night and SBCC went on to defeat East L.A. 45-13 in its final non-conference football game at Monterey Park.

The Vaqueros (2-1) forced five takeaways, including interceptions by Jacob Girgle, Bradley Sloan and Khaliel Ahmed Shegog. Brandon Nicastro and Ezra Taylor made fumble recoveries.

Edwards, a freshman from Seattle, ran SBCC's no-huddle offense and completed 17-of-25 passes for 183 yards with one interception. In the first half, he was 13-18 for 142 yards and three TDs as the Vaqueros built a 28-13 lead.

Edwards completed 68 percent of his passes on Saturday and he's No. 6 in the state at 63.3 percent for the year.

"Our offensive line bought me just enough time to throw some passes and our wide receivers got open," said Edwards. "Give credit to our defense, they did great also. We lost some key guys but other guys stepped up and filled their spots."

Three Vaquero defensive starters went down with injuries in the first half – safety Zach Arnell, linebacker Jake Pettit and Sloan, a cornerback. Sloan was carted off the field with eight minutes to go in the second quarter.

"I think the offense rose up and did what it had to do," said eighth-year Vaquero coach Craig Moropoulos. "It starts with being able to capitalize on opportunities and I thought they did a good job.

"Our defense is solid, but we took some hits tonight that could be very, very painful. We lost Brad Sloan, Pettit and Arnell. Sloan is having surgery so he'll be out a while. When that happens, you have to have guys step up and I thought we did a great job of that in the second half."

SBCC jumped ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter when Edwards tossed a screen pass to Cedric Cooper and he sprinted between two defenders to complete a 65-yard touchdown.

Sloan intercepted a pass at the Husky 35 and returned it to the 20. Three plays later, Edwards hit Brenden Lewis for his first catch and first TD, a leaping 9-yard reception with a defender all over him. That gave the Vaqueros a 14-0 lead with 9:35 to go in the second quarter.

The Vaqueros collected 18 first downs and were 5-5 in red-zone scoring chances.

Will Randolph returned the kickoff 59 yards, setting up ELA at the Vaqueros' 35. Quarterback Michael Ladino scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1 on a sneak and the Huskies notched their first points of the year to trail 14-7.

SBCC came right back with a 65-yard march, capped by a 3-yard TD run from Orion Prescott to extend the lead to 21-7 with 1:45 left in the first half.

Two plays later, Nicastro forced a fumble and Taylor recovered for the Vaqueros at the ELA 10. On second down, Edwards hit tight end Will Allen for a 5-yard TD and a 28-7 lead. Allen, playing his first game for the Vaqueros, caught five balls for 60 yards.

Nicastro had four tackles, two for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Taylor, a 6-2, 235-pound defensive lineman from Severna, Maryland, racked up five tackles, two sacks, three tackles for loss, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and broke up a pass. Ahmed Shegog, Alex Riley and Jay Terry led the defense with seven tackles each.

It took the Huskies just two plays and 26 seconds to cover 85 yards on a 48-yard run by Randolph and a 37-yard pass from Ladino to Joshua Taylor. The PAT snap was mishandled and the Vaqueros led 28-13 at intermission.

 SBCC drove 64 yards after the second-half kickoff and stretched the lead to 35-13 on an 8-yard run by Prescott. He led the Vaqueros with 48 yards on 11 carries. Blake Levin kicked a 37-yard field goal on the second-to-last play of the third quarter.

Elijah King caught five passes for 45 yards and he's the state leader with 26 receptions in three games. The Vaqueros drove 66 yards and King completed the scoring by grabbing a 38-yard TD toss from Keiston Smith on the eighth play of the fourth quarter.

The kicking game was in solid form again as Mitch Wishnowsky had six punts for a 36.5-yard average, including four inside the 20. Two of those were downed at the 1-yard line. East L.A. kicked most of its seven punts out-of-bounds to avoid Tyler Higby, one of the top return men in the state. Higby had one punt return for 46 yards on Saturday and a kickoff return for 37 yards.

The Vaqueros will play their first two American Pacific League games at home, starting with West L.A. on Saturday at 1 p.m.