Garden Grove Has Five Turnovers but Beats La Quinta

GARDEN GROVE — Garden Grove overcame five turnovers and retained a slim chance of making the playoffs with a 21-14 victory over La Quinta Thursday at Bolsa Grande High.

Although the postseason is an unlikely destination for the Argonauts (3-5-1, 2-2-1)--they would have to upset Los Amigos next week and get some help to earn a berth--they showed tenacity after failing to put the game away early.

Garden Grove opened up a 7-0 lead on their opening possession, with Andrew Romero reeling off runs of 17 and 16 yards to set up an 18-yard touchdown pass from Rick Welty to Ulysses Linares. The Argonauts failed to add to the lead, turning the ball over twice in La Quinta territory later in the quarter.

The Aztecs (0-9, 0-5) took advantage, with Victor Lopez scoring on a three-yard plunge and a one-yard sweep to build a 14-7 lead before the intermission.

Argonaut senior Robert Stebbins rushed for 89 of his game-high 112 yards in the second half and capped a pair of extended drives with touchdown runs of three and nine yards, the latter giving Garden Grove a 21-14 lead with 11:55 left in the game.

“We made fewer mistakes in the second half,” Garden Grove Coach Kris Van Hook said. “Robert was just running hard. He always runs hard.”

Garden Grove gave the Aztecs a couple of chances to tie in the final quarter after Argonaut turnovers, but La Quinta was forced to punt on one occasion, and then turned the ball over on downs at their 38 with seven seconds left in the game.

La Quinta managed only 48 yards of offense in the second half; the Aztecs have lost 14 consecutive games dating to the 1996 season.