GARDEN GROVE and Los Amigos clashed Thursday night in the Garden Grove League football opener for both teams. Grove – in white – won 27-6. (OC Tribune photo).

By Jim Tortolano

Different year, same story? The Garden Grove High football team opened its defense of the Garden Grove League title Thursday night in a game marked by a flood of penalties and perhaps a bit of déjà vu. In winning 27-6 over a strong Los Amigos team at the Argo field, the red-and-white established themselves as the favorite for a fifth straight GGL title.

Of course, Coach Ricardo Cepeda was not ready to polish any trophies, yet. “Everybody [in the league] gives us their best game,” he said.  “We take them one game at a time. But we’ve got to clean up ourselves. We can’t turn the ball over” – the Argos had six fumbles – “and we can’t have 200 yards in penalties.”

Garden Grove improved its overall record to 4-2, while Los Amigos fell to 3-3.

RUBEN MENDOZA threw for two scores for Garden Grove Thursday night (OC Tribune photo).

After a scoreless first quarter, Grove got on the board with a 28-yard touchdown run by Dominick Sanchez. A 39-yard strike from Ruben Mendoza to Adam Johnson put the Argos up 14-0 at halftime.

STEVEN HERNANDEZ (5) led Los Amigos with 56 yards rushing (OC Tribune photo).

Los Amigos, working almost entirely on the ground, cut the Grove lead with 14 seconds to go in the third quarter on a 5-yard scoring jaunt by Edgar Galindo. However, a two-point attempt failed and the Argos led 14-6 going into the fourth quarter.

Despite a blizzard of penalty flags in the final eight minutes, Grove owned the fourth, scoring on a 4-yard Mendoza run and then a 32-yard pass from Mendoza to Devan Rouse.

Mendoza was the all-around star of the game for Grove, passing for 121 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 93 more on the ground. Anthony Herrera added 74 yards rushing and Sanchez 57 more. The Lobos were led by Steven Hernandez with 56 yards, followed by Galindo with 46 more.

Next up for Garden Grove will be Santiago next Thursday. while Los Amigos will take on Bolsa Grande on Friday, Oct. 14.

For other area high school football results from Thursday night, go to https://orangecountytribune.com/2016/10/06/argos-panthers-open-league-with-wins/