4 turnovers give Spartans 1st loss

The Granite Hills Grizzlies haven’t been so happy to see the EYL in ages.

Traveling to Corcoran made them even more anxious to face their league, as it handed Granite a 54-3 defeat.

Coach Gary Stoddard said the biggest error  involving Friday night’s loss was made years ago.

“Scheduling Corcoran four years ago. That’s what went wrong,” Stoddard said.  “We played well together, but just ran into a better football team in all facets of the game.”

The Panthers’ stable of running backs coupled with some key turnovers were too much to overcome for the Grizzlies.

Their own inability to pass the football allowed the Panthers to stack the box to prevent the run.

“We’re just having a hard time with the passing game,” Stoddard said. “It kills our run game when they (the defenses) don’t have to worry about the pass.”

Avenal 32, Strathmore 27

The Spartans’ rushing attack hit its first hurdle of the season, as they had four turnovers.

Those turnovers gave the Avenal Buccaneers the field position necessary to capitalize and it did in a 32-27 win, Friday night at home.

“You can’t win football games with four turnovers,” coach Jeromy Blackwell said.

Junior Jesse Soria started the game off in the best possible way for the Spartans, taking the opening kickoff 94 yards for a score. He added a 67-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Serafin Moreno  and Jaime Magallon both caught touchdown passes from quarterback Able Valle.

Out of timeouts, Strathmore had one last chance with Avenal trying to convert a fourth-and-one from its own 40-yard line, but the Buccaneers got two yards to ice the game.