SANTA CLARITA — After outscoring its previous two opponents 103-0, the West Ranch football team was not able to get much of anything going Thursday night as it was routed by St. Paul 42-7.
West Ranch defeated St. Paul 35-0 last season during its 10-0 regular season, but was not able to find the same success Thursday against a St. Paul team led by first-year head coach Mike Moschetti.
“That’s a very well-coached team, and they executed very well,” said West Ranch coach Christopher Varner, whose team was outscored 29-0 in the final two quarters. “I thought for a young team we had some bright spots and we just have to try and focus on those.”
West Ranch (2-2) was able to keep the game close in the first half, holding the St. Paul lead to 13-7.
West Ranch scored on its first drive, which spanned 14 plays and reached the end zone when Liam McDaniel found Jack Samuelson on a 7-yard touchdown pass. The Wildcats led 7-0 in the middle of the first quarter.
St. Paul (2-1) tied the score at 7 on a 1-yard touchdown run from Christian Melendez on its first drive of the game that lasted 16 plays.
St. Paul was set up in prime field position for its second drive when it recovered a fumble at West Ranch’s 33-yard line. The fumble recovery came on an errant snap over McDaniel’s head on fourth down.
St. Paul quarterback Andrew Maushardt connected with Orlando Zepeda one play after the fumble for a 33-yard touchdown pass that gave St. Paul a 13-7 lead.
Maushardt was very efficient throughout the game, finishing 13 of 17 for 142 yards passing and two touchdowns.
West Ranch’s offense got off to a very poor start in the second half with back-to-back turnovers.
First came an interception by linebacker Devaughn Garner-Egans and then there was a fumble recovered by Camron Lopez. Both turnovers gave St. Paul prime field position and led to touchdowns. Melendez scored a rushing touchdown and Ty Bowers followed with a 7-yard TD run that gave St. Paul a 28-7 lead at the end of the third quarter.
St. Paul scored on its two drives in the fourth quarter. Maushardt threw a touchdown pass to Zepeda and Melendez added his third rushing touchdown of the night to make the final score 42-7.
Melendez finished the game with 15 carries for 126 yards and three touchdowns.
“We knew West Ranch is a well-coached team, but the kids had a good two weeks of practice coming off the bye,” Moschetti said. “The first half we did a good job of bending but not breaking and I thought we played physical and it feels good to get a good win.”
McDaniel finished the game 18 of 35 for 111 yards passing with one interception and one touchdown pass. West Ranch running back Luke Deperno had 12 carries for 65 yards.
West Ranch will start Foothill League play next week with a road game at Canyon.
St. Paul will have a game on the road against Downey next week.