Griffins cruise past Bruins

Griffins cruise past Bruins
By Frank Burlison, Staff writer
Article Launched: 09/21/2007 12:15:18 AM PDT




LONG BEACH - Los Alamitos High junior Clark Evans had the very definition of a "productive performance" Thursday night at Veterans Stadium.

Operating out of an offensive formation (Single Wing) that was a staple in the 1950s but rarely seen in this millennium, Evans ran for five scores and threw for another, and passed and rushed for a net of 386 yards as the Griffins knocked off the Wilson Bruins in a non-league football game, 42-20.

Coach John Barnes' team (3-0) will be at Cal State Fullerton a week from tonight to take on defending Pac-5 Division Southern

Section champion Orange Lutheran, while the Bruins (1-3), who dropped their third game in a row, will be at home to open Moore League play against Millikan.
Evans completed 17 of 27 pass attempts and 226 yards and rushed for 160 on 24 carries before heading to the sidelines for good after his final TD with 9:14 to go.

He certainly looked the part of one of the top quarterbacks in Southern California over the Griffins' marching them for touchdowns on their first three possessions.

The "mini-drive" was set up by Joshua Barut's recovery of a Wilson fumble 3:57 into play.

Barut also had an interception in the fourth quarter.

On the second play from scrimmage Evans and sophomore Paul Richardson hooked up for 51 yards after an inside screen.

Evans then connected with another sophomore, Brandon Graves, for eight yards on a swing pass and Evans then blasted over the goal line from 15 yards out on a draw. Zack Abrams then tacked on his first of three first-half conversion kicks.

Wilson was three and out before punting, with Evans and Graves capping the Griffins' third drive with a 14-yard touchdown on a screen to the left in which Graves was untouched until he got into the end zone.

But quarterback Zach Kazarian drove the Bruins 69 yards on their next possession, the last of those 21 on a pass over the middle on third down that sophomore Ezell Ruffin caught at the five before scoring 4:46 before intermission.

After forcing Los Alamitos to punt for the first time, the Bruins continued picking up chunks of yardage many of those by Randall Hook, who rushed for 89 yards on 13 carries in the first half (he also had a 90-yard touchdown run for the games final score) picking up a first down at the Griffins' 7-yard-line on a 13-yard, Kazarian to Hook swing pass with 26 seconds to go.

But, with no timeouts remaining, Hook was buried for a yard loss and then Kazarian's pass to Michael Willie in the end zone fell incomplete as time expired.

"That was a huge defensive stop," Evans said. "It gave us a lot of momentum."


Los Alamitos 42, Wilson 20


Los Alamitos scoring: Evans 5 (15, 1, 7, 6 and 4 runs), Graves (14 pass from Evans). PAT: Abrams 6 (kicks).

Wilson scoring: Ruffin (21 pass from Kazarian), Willie (5 pass from Kazarian), Hook (90 run). PAT: Hollaway 2 (kicks).















Los Alamitos' Clark Evans rushes on a quarterback keeper
against Wilson's Cody Ceverha during the second quarter at
Veterans Stadium on Thursday night. Evans had 226 yards
passing to go along with 160 yards rushing in the Griffins' 42-20
nonleague victory over the Bruins.
(Scott Smeltzer / Press-Telegram)


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