WEEK FOUR FOOTBALL – Offensive line paves the way for big night from Norwalk’s Cerritos, Meuller in revenge win

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

Norwalk High had an extra week to forget about its first loss of the season, a 29-12 contest to San Diego power Scripps Ranch High, and focus on Linfield Christian High, which edged the Lancers 22-20 last season. The vaunted Norwalk rushing attack did its thing, and more, but it was the offensive line that enabled the Lancers to rush for 599 yards in a 65-34 win last Friday.

The Lancers posted the most points in a game since Sept. 9, 2022, when they annihilated South East High 70-6. Since 2008, Norwalk has scored over 60 points against a non-league team eight times.

“The bye week helped us,” said Norwalk head coach Ruben Guerrero. “I had a couple of kids banged up and the flu ran through our team. We just weren’t firing on all cylinders [against Scripps Ranch], and tonight I thought the time off…we were able to regroup. The kids came out on fire tonight; they were motivated by what happened against Linfield last year. The seniors are riding high now and I just think the combination of all those things put together just really helped us out tonight.”

Senior running back Ezra Meuller, junior running back Diego Cerritos and four other ball carriers were in good hands all night because of the stellar job put in by senior left tackle Anthony Lemus, sophomore left guard Jordan Ballenger, junior center Tristian Romero, senior right guard Bobby Mosqueda and sophomore right tackle Zion Burris. The line allowed Meuller to rush for 270 yards on 20 carries and Cerritos get 255 yards on a dozen touches. They also scored four and three touchdowns, respectively. Junior running back Derek Sandoval also picked up 22 yards on five carries and a touchdown while senior fullback Papo Lieataua and junior running back Andres Escobar combined for 31 yards on three carries.

“Lemus, Bobby, and the offensive line said, ‘you know what coach, we’re going to take this game over’, and they did,” said Guerrero. “We made sure we had a good game plan, and we had answers for things that weren’t working. But I have to give all credit to the offensive line. They took this game over.

“That was actually surprising to me as well,” Guerrero added on Cerritos’ and Meuller’s performances. “It caught me off guard, a pleasant surprise. But it boils down to the kids, that offensive line and the rest of the bunch…they just said, ‘we don’t want to lose this game again from last year’. They can enjoy the fruits of their labor now.”

Norwalk scored a touchdown on its first nine possessions and the only time it did not reach the end zone was on its last drive, which covered the final five minutes of the game. Cerritos got the party started with a 15-yard run just over three minutes into the game. However, Micah Little returned the ensuing kickoff 81 yards for a score. The extra point was missed, but Meuller would put the Lancers in front for good with an eight-yard run with 4:27 left in the opening quarter.

The Lions would be forced to punt when they had their first possession because senior Juan Campos sacked Thomas Paschal for an eight-yard loss on second and two. The Lancers closed out the stanza, then Cerritos scored from 29 yards out on the second play of the second quarter.

Following an interception from senior safety Adrian Parra, a 4:52 drive, the longest of the half, ended with a Meuller five-yard run and a 27-6 lead. But Linfield Christian, and its speed, took over again and on the next play, Paschal found Carson Drummond, who raced downfield for an 83-yard connection and just like that, it was 27-13 with 5:16 left in the half.

The offensive video game continued as Meuller scored from 29 yards out three plays later, followed by another kickoff return by Little for a score, this time of 80 yards, a 14-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nicolas Barrera to Meuller and finally a six-yard touchdown run from Paschal on the last play of the half.

When it was all said and done, Norwalk had a game’s worth of offensive yards in the first half alone, rushing for 366 yards while the Lions were limited to only 10 plays for 108 yards in 5:48 of action.

“Linfield Christian, my hats off to them,” said Guerrero. “They are such a sharp team in all facets. Coach DeChon [Burns] over there made sure that that team is sharp in every aspect; all three phases-offense, defense and special teams. That’s what kept them in the game; that’s what kept us on our toes.”

Linfield Christian made sure the Lancers didn’t have the ball as much in the third quarter. The hosts ran just 10 plays in the stanza over 4:32 in three drives, getting touchdown runs from Sandoval (three yards) and Cerritos (65 yards). In between, the Lions scored their last touchdown as Paschal found Liam Dubick for six yards with 1:54 left in the quarter. It ended a six and a half minute drive while the last touchdown of the game came exactly two minutes into the fourth quarter as Meuller busted loose for 20 yards on his last carry of the night.

Because the Lions ran only 34 plays on offense, there weren’t too many defensive leaders for the Lancers as sophomore linebacker David Ibarra led the team with three tackles while Sandoval had a pair. Meanwhile, Paschal completed 12 passes for 201 yards while the Lions had 44 yards on the ground.

“My hats off to our defense,” said Guerrero. “They were running around this week with a chip on their shoulder and we told them we needed a stop, and we were able to get one and then put another score right away.
“I was talking to one of my coaches on the sideline,” he later said of Paschal. “That kid has special qualities; he’s special. He’s making decisions in his head before we even see him, and he would fake one way, spin out…he’s a great, great high school quarterback.”

Norwalk will visit Locke High, a Metro League team from the CIF Los Angeles City Section on Friday. The Saints are winless and have scored four more points than what Linfield Christian had against Norwalk. The following week, Norwalk will travel to first-year school Compton Early College, also winless, hoping not to fall for the so-called trap games before facing Gahr High on Oct. 11.

“We haven’t [scouted them] but Locke is always a tough team,” said Guerrero. “They always have a couple of guys that know how to play football, and they have speed. I think there’s a new head coach in charge and whenever there’s someone new in charge, anything can happen.”