BUENA PARK – A blanket defense by Buena Park gave its offense enough time to recover from a sluggish start, as the Coyotes pulled away in the second half Friday for a 30-3 victory over Katella in their Omicron League opener.
Damian Rodriguez and Kevin Garcia connected on touchdown passes of 36 and 41 yards, while the Coyotes (4-2, 1-0) held Katella (3-3, 0-1) to 214 yards of total offense.
“To be honest, I think every game is the best defensive game we’ve had,” said linebacker Alex Blancas, who had three of the Coyotes’ seven tackles for loss. “Every single game we come out here, we keep improving, and proving to the people who trust us are right.”
Buena Park opened the scoring with a 45-yard field goal from Pedro Azpeitia 18 seconds into the second quarter.
Katella responded with a scoring drive of its own. A 50-yard catch by Damen Avila put Katella into Buena Park territory for the first time. The Knights eventually got to the 6 before settling for Ismael Brito’s 35-yard field goal.
The Coyotes began getting separation after an exchange of punts, and Garcia turned a broken play into a score. He eluded pressure from two would-be tacklers in the backfield, and after seeing no one open on the right-hand side of the end zone, found Rodriguez open behind double coverage in the left corner for a 41-yard touchdown.
Rodriguez nearly got his second TD in the third quarter – twice. But scoring passes of 10 and 15 yards on consecutive plays were both nullified by penalties.
“I was going crazy on the sideline,” Blancas said. “The offense deserves that. They’ve been working hard every single time just like we have.”
Garcia got one of those touchdowns back with a 15-yard run with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
Buena Park’s came up with three turnovers. Aiden Beltran ended Katella’s first possession with an interception at the Katella 46. The last two turnovers helped seal the outcome, an interception by Elias Sanchez on the second play of the fourth quarter, and Joshua Penaloza’s fumble recovery at the Buena Park 25 with 4:45 left. That led to Rodriguez’s second TD.
Garcia completed 18 of 33 passes for 236 yards, though the majority of his passes were screen passes, Rodriguez caught five passes for 87 yards.
It was a miserable night for Katella quarterback Angel Garcia. He threw for 98 yards with the two interceptions, and had minus-10 yards rushing. The Knights’ rushing leader, Randy Ruiz, had 26 yards on 14 carries.
Elias Chavez ran for 63 yards on 14 carries for the Coyotes.