A lengthy losing streak would have given the Garfield High School football team something to stew over the next couple of weeks.
But thanks to a 38-3 victory over Huntington Park, the Bulldogs can concern themselves with how to build on a bit of success heading into their bye week.

Garfield, which had dropped its previous three games, is 3-4 overall and 1-2 in the Eastern League. The Bulldogs return to action Oct. 30 at South East (3-3, 2-0), one of the co-leaders in the league.

“We didn’t really want to go into our bye week on a four-game losing streak,” Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “We did a lot of things positive and cut down on the penalties on the offensive side.”

Tailback Jonathan Lopez had the best game of his career with 223 yards and three touchdowns on 12 carries in a little more than a half against the Spartans (2-5, 0-3). After scoring his third TD three minutes into the second half, Lopez and the rest of the starters were given the night off.

“I haven’t seen the kid run like that since his freshman year,” Hernandez said of the sophomore. “He was phenomenal.”
Leonardo Vaal was 5 of 12 for 138 yards passing, while Danny Vargas and Giovanni Leon ran for TDs for  the Bulldogs.

Defensively, Jonathan Valles had eight solo tackles and three assists and Hector Cazales was in on 10 tackles, six of them solo. Moses Saucedo had two sacks.

Looking ahead to South East, Hernandez knows what his team has to do to succeed — contain the Jaguars talented sophomore running back Robert Lewis.

“He’s a game-changer,” Hernandez said. “If we can neutralize him, we’ve got a shot.”

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South East moved into a share of the lead with idle Roosevelt (5-1, 2-0) by defeating Bell, 24-8.

Rolando Sandoval completed eight of 12 passes for 115 yards, including a seven-yard scoring pass to Daniel Medrano, and Lewis carried eight times for 78 yards and two TDs to pace the Jaguars.

John Belton caught five passes for 88 yards for South East.

Defensively for the Jaguars, Allen Hall and Windale Scott had three sacks each, Jason Avendano had five solo tackles and two assists and David Godoy had an interception.

Bell (5-1, 2-1), which suffered its first league loss, scored its points in the fourth quarter on a one-yard run by Julian Leon.

Adrian Lopez was 7 of 18 for 56 yards passing and Jose Barba was the leading rusher for the Eagles with 64 yards on 12 carries.

David Franco was the leading tackler with eight.

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Jordan (3-4, 2-1) raced past South Gate, 41-14 in the other Eastern League game. The Rams fell to 2-4 overall and 0-2 in league.

Deshawn Beck rushed for 159 yards on 12 carries, threw a TD pass and caught one for the Bulldogs.