Story Published:
Sep 23, 2009 at 5:05 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Sep 23, 2009 at 5:05 PM PDT
The first road game of the season will do at least one thing for Garfield High School’s football team.
If nothing else, the approximately 250-mile trip north to face Paso Robles
Friday should foster plenty of togetherness.
Eliminating the usual distractions is just fine with coach Lorenzo Hernandez.
“I think it’s going to be good to get away,” he said. “Because of the trip, they’ll be able to focus. They won’t have to deal with friends, girl friends, etc. Like one of our coaches said, they’ll be by themselves. They’ll have eight hours together with their teammates.”
The 7 p.m. nonleague game, held at Flamson Middle School in Paso Robles, should be quite a test for the 2-1 Bulldogs, particularly their defense.
The Bears are 1-2, but it hasn’t been for a lack of offense.
Paso Robles is averaging 31.3 points, while giving up 39.3 per contest.
“They’re 1-2, but they played some good schools (Westlake, Santa Maria St. Joseph and Central Fresno),” Hernandez said. “They’re physical and score a lot of points. Their running back (Robbie Burbank) is very fast and they have a good corps of receivers.”
Burbank, a 6-foot-1, 210-pound senior, has rushed for 718 yards and nine touchdowns. He ran for 395 yards and six TDs on 32 carries in a 55-42 win over Central Fresno.
Quarterback Thomas Bernal has complemented the running attack by throwing for 430 yards and three scores. Elias Stokes is the leading receiver with 14 catches for 241 yards and two TDs.
Garfield, which opens Eastern League play Oct. 2 at Jordan, is coming off a 35-11 victory over Wilson (0-2).
Though the Bulldogs had their bright spots, Hernandez saw room for improvement.
“We did some dumb things that we can’t do in league,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s experience, or what, but we are a young team. Hopefully, we learn from experience.”
The running game flourished against Wilson as Julio Silva carried 12 times for 112 yards and two TDs, Jonathan Lopez ran for 96 yards on 15 carries and Paul Alvarado added 71 yards and a TD on 10 attempts. Jonathan Lazo added another 102 yards passing.
“We established our running game early,” the coach said. “Jonathan Lopez and Julio Silva both did a great job. I thought our offensive line did well.”
Defensively, Bobby Vargas and Hector Cazales returned interceptions for touchdowns. Cazales had seven solo tackles and three assists.
Jonathan Valles had eight solos, five assists and a sack. Moses Saucedo had six solos, two assists and a sack.
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