Ibarra, Nogales Roll Past La Puente in 42-0 Playoff Victory

LA PUENTE – Francisco Ibarra scored five touchdowns to lead Nogales to a 42-0 victory over the visiting La Puente Warriors in a CIF Division 13 matchup Thursday night.

Ibarra scored on his first four touches on runs of 18, 19. 12 and 25 yards. He finished with five touchdowns total with 87 yards.

“It’s a lot of teamwork,” he said. “I got all my linemen doing their jobs, and the receivers as well to allow me to do what I have to do to score for my team.”

“That (kid’s) been doing it all year,” head coach Richard Salazar said of Ibarra. “To watch the blockers, do what they do for him and then he’s doing what he’s coached to do. He’s a weapon.”

Andrew Carrazco joined the fray, scoring on a 31-yard pass from Josh Lopez to put the game away at 35-0.

Carrazco finished with 163 all-purpose yards and one touchdown. Quarterback Josh Lopez threw for 103 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 63 more.

La Puente (6-5) had a chance to cut into the Nobles’ lead in the first half when they had a sustained drive, riding senior running back Quinton Groves deep into Nogales’ territory, but was unable to finish the drive.

“The defense took some pride in stopping them,” Salazar said. “They’re loving the intensity and the fight. I couldn’t expect more.”

Groves finished with 85 yards, most of which came in the time-consuming drive which stalled at the 10-yard line. Senior quarterback Jesse Hernandez finished with 115 passing yards.

“It’s a handful of people that is making this happen,” Nogales coach Richard Salazar said. “It starts with my staff, we work on a lot of things, a lot of mental toughness. We had a lot of parents come out to our dinner last night and again it’s the buy in. Lot of people making this happen.”

Nogales (10-1) will travel to face Silver Valley (7-3), a 40-36 winner over Riverside Carnegie next Friday night. Kickoff is at 7pm

OTHER SCORES

Division 7

Diamond Ranch 20, Palmdale 17

Photo: Andrew Carrazco (20) runs for some yards. He finished with 163 all purpose yards and a touchdown.