Prep Football : El Dorado Discovers Its Offense

El Dorado High School, which had scored nary a point since its season opener three weeks ago, went on a scoring binge in Friday night’s nonleague game with Fullerton.

El Dorado defeated Fullerton, 39-21, by rallying from a 21-7 deficit, scoring 32 unanswered points in front of 1,000 at Fullerton High.

Lance Keeter, a senior running back, rushed for 123 yards and 3 touchdowns in 17 carries in giving the Golden Hawks (2-2) new life offensively. His 1-yard run with 1:37 left in the first quarter provided the first points for El Dorado since it scored a late touchdown in a 28-6 victory over La Quinta in the first game of the season.

The Golden Hawks suffered consecutive shutouts at the hands of Troy, 6-0, two weeks ago and Valencia, 28-0, last week. In the loss to Valencia, El Dorado could manage only 64 yards rushing and 76 passing.

Keeter’s scoring run also brought the Golden Hawks out of some early-game sluggishness.

Fullerton (1-3) had taken a 14-0 lead on a pair of Steve DePhillips’ 4-yard touchdown runs.

But after Keeter scored, Fullerton came back with a 17-yard scoring pass from quarterback Rene Arias to wide receiver John Bailey for a 21-7 lead with 5:50 left in the half.

And it looked as if El Dorado would be headed for a third consecutive loss. However, things went sour for the Indians.

On the first play of the ensuing series, David Swearingen, El Dorado quarterback, threw an 80-yard scoring pass to Shawn Facione to cut the lead to 21-14.

Then with just 31 seconds left in the half, Swearingen threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Scott Whan in the left-hand corner of the end zone to tie it at 21-21.

Swearingen passed for 243 yards, completing 11 of 24 passes.

Then the Golden Hawks really kicked it into high gear.

Keeter scored on a 4-yard run and it was 28-21. Later, Fullerton punter Scott Hamm had the ball snapped over his head. He caught up with it in the end zone, tried to pass, but was called for intentional grounding, an automatic safety and a 30-21 lead.

Keeter scored on another 4-yard run and it was 36-21 with 1:01 left in the third quarter. Phil Nevin added a 44-yard field goal in the final minute to complete the scoring for the Golden Hawks.

El Dorado’s big offensive showing was the main reason it shut out Fullerton in the second half. Fullerton simply could not get the ball away from El Dorado.

Fullerton ran just 9 plays in the third quarter and 13 in the fourth quarter; El Dorado ran 19 in the third and 20 in the fourth.

Consequently, DePhillips, the third-leading rushing in Orange County with 448 yards coming into the game, had little opportunity to run in the second half.

DePhillips had 81 yards in 16 carries, 73 in the first half.