By Brian Reed-Baiotto
Don Lugo High didn’t just come into Citrus College Thursday night and beat host Azusa, 39-14 in a nonleague match up, the Conquistadores made it look easy.
Don Lugo (2-2) led 27-0 before Azusa scored its first points of the game halfway through the third quarter and the difference at quarterback told much of the story.
The Conquistadores Marc Wiseman was an efficient 13 of 22 for 204 yards, including three touchdowns and no picks, while Azusa’s Jose Ledesma threw two touchdowns, but was intercepted four times. (To continue click thread)
Don Lugo took advantage of an Azusa personal foul to extend its first scoring drive, and Wiseman turned it into six points when he hit Marcus Helton on a 20-yard strike with 5:20 remaining in the half.
Jorge Montelongo then sprinted in from 59 yards out to give the Conquistadores a 12-0 lead after both extra-point attempts (one run, one kick) failed.
Azusa (1-2) was trying to run out the clock deep in its own territory with the chance of regrouping at the half and trailing just 12-0, but a fumble recovered by Don Lugo’s Nestor Aquino led to a Wiseman to Jaylen Hall 9-yard score with just five seconds left in the half to give the Conquistadores a 20-0 lead at the break.
Terree Gordon’s 27-yard scoring run on the first possession of the second half gave Don Lugo and 27-0 lead and for all intents and purposes, put the game out of reach.
“We were really anxious to put last week’s (59-13) loss to Diamond Bar behind us and we had a really good week of practice and it paid off tonight,” Wiseman said. “I think our line wore them down in the second half, and we took advantage of four turnovers tonight, which were huge in our favor.”
Ledesma did throw a 26-yard touchdown to Josh Dillon and a 63-yard strike to Carlos Monteil, but the damage had already been more than done.
The Azusa signal caller completed just 12 of 26 passes for 204 yards and could have been picked off at least twice more.
Jaylen Hall had two interceptions of Ledesma, while Justin Daines and Marcus Helton had a pick each for Don Lugo.
The Conquistadores defense held Azusa to minus-23 yards rushing and Jacob Valdez sacked Ledesma twice.
Things got ugly late in the game, when, after Ledesma was picked for the fourth time, Azusa’s Dillon was called for a personal foul and then kicked the referee’s flag into the air and was ejected.
Gordon and Montelongo combined to rush for 182 yards on 22 carries and three touchdowns. Gordon’s scores were of 27 and 54 yards and he also had three receptions for 81 yards.
Hunter Grasp caught four passes for 72 yards, including a 17-yard touchdown from Wiseman.
Azusa, which has now allowed 89 points in its two losses, was led offensively by Monteil, who caught for passes for a game-high 116 yards and a touchdown.
