GARDEN GROVE – Rancho Alamitos senior quarterback Oswaldo Ramos had been sick all day.
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He recovered Thursday night, especially during the second half of his team’s Sigma League game against Costa Mesa.
Ramos ran for two touchdowns in the second half to lead the Vaqueros to a 14-13 comeback win over Costa Mesa at Bolsa Grande High.
Rancho Alamitos remains undefeated. The Vaqueros are 8–0 overall and 3-0 in the Sigma League. Costa Mesa is 3-5 overall and 1-2 in league.
The Vaqueros locked up a playoff berth. They have made the playoffs every season except once since 2009.
Ramos had a stomach ailment.
“I was under the weather,” Ramos said. “But I had to fight for my team.”
The Vaqueros trailed at halftime, 13-0. They went on offense to start the third quarter. Ramos runs and completions pushed Rancho Alamitos downfield until Ramos scored on a 4-yard run.
On the ensuing point-after kick attempt, Rancho Alamitos’ Joe Vazquez picked up the low snap and hustled around the right end for two points. Turning that mistake into a two-point conversion turned out to be crucial.
In the fourth quarter, Rancho Alamitos, starting from its 46-yard line after one of the several wind-affected punts, converted twice on fourth down. Ramos passed to Jacob Vasquez on fourth-and-5 for 21 yards that put the Vaqueros at the Costa Mesa 9-yard line.
On first down there, Ramos threw two incompletions, including a wise toss to the turf to avoid a sack, and a completed pass for zero yards. On fourth down and the Vaqueros still at the 9-yard line, Ramos thundered into the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-13 lead. A pass attempt for two points was incomplete.
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Costa Mesa’s Mustangs drove to the Rancho Alamitos 33-yard line. Rancho linebacker Andrew Gonzalez tackled Costa Mesa quarterback Matthew Barrientes for a 3-yard loss, Vazquez broke up a deep pass on third down and a fourth-down pass also was incomplete. The Vaqueros offense then took the field with 2:01 remaining and was able to collect two first downs to run out the clock.
“That was a big battle,” Rancho Alamitos coach Mike Enright said after the game. “That’s what these league games are supposed to be about.”
The Mustangs were the better team in the first half, offensively led by running back Gavin Garza and shining on defense, too. Their defense forced four Rancho Alamitos punts in the first half.
Garza scored on a 17-yard run and Barrientes scored on a 1-yard dive in the second quarter for Costa Mesa’s 13-0 lead. A point-after kick attempt after the Barrientes touchdown was no good.
Enright, in his 27th season as the Rancho Alamitos coach, said he did not have to raise his voice at halftime to fire up his team.
“I didn’t yell, I didn’t do anything,” he said. “These kids, they keep believing in themselves. They’ve got some guts to them.”
Costa Mesa’s next game is a Sigma League home game next Friday against Saddleback which was 0-7 going into this week. Rancho Alamitos plays a league game against Anaheim at Bolsa Grande High next Thursday.
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