Ryan Bunnell is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Alhambra High School for AZPreps365.com.

Vista Grande cruised to a 56-6 road win at Alhambra on Friday behind junior quarterback Darnell Castro’s three-TD night.

Once the Spartans took a 49-6 lead with 9:09 remaining in the 3rd quarter, the game moved to a running clock for the remainder of the second half, per the Arizona Interscholastic Association football speed-up rule.

The Lions (1-3) struggled to get much going against the Spartans' (2-2) defense from the opening kickoff. 

Alhambra’s first three drives resulted in a pair of fumbles, including one on the second play of the game, as well as a punt from their own 1-yard line following a 20-yard sack.

The Lions' offense went on to finish with 57 total yards in the contest. Coach Charles Rivera said that although it might not show in the box score, he was proud of the fact that his team didn’t quit and played hard until the final whistle.

“We definitely had a lot of grit tonight,” Rivera said. “Bounces didn’t go our way, we didn’t execute very well, but the biggest takeaway for me is that they kept fighting and we can hang our head on that and build off that.”

The best opportunity for the Lions' offense came near the end of the first half, following a 60-yard kick return by senior Roman Moreno.

Starting at the Spartan’s 28-yard line, it took only two plays for senior wideout James Gaie to put Alhambra on the board with a 27-yard rushing touchdown.

“My blockers made a very good block for me,” Gaie said. “It opened up a hole and I bounced it out so it was right there.”

Gaie and Moreno accounted for almost the entirety of Alhambra’s offensive production. Gaie finished the game with 43 all-purpose yards and Moreno had 33.

Alhambra had another opportunity to score on its first drive of the second half following another big kick return from Moreno.

The 44-yard return set the Lions up at the Spartans’ 46-yard line. After pushing forward 18 yards to the 28, the drive was cut short by a Vista Grande interception.

The Spartans' defense tallied a total of five turnovers with three fumble recoveries and two interceptions.

Defensively, it was a long night for the home team. Vista Grande finished with 395 total yards behind a big performance from Castro. The junior quarterback piled up 158 yards through the air on 8-of-10 passing and 36 yards rushing with three total touchdowns.

“With Darnell, he’s just one of those kids,” Spartans coach Jon Roberts said. “Right now he’s our starting quarterback, but if another quarterback came and stepped up he would be our starting wide receiver. In basketball he’s a starting point guard. He’s just a natural athlete. He can pick up a ball and he can play it.”

Vista Grande scored a touchdown on every drive of the game that wasn’t cut off by the scoreboard’s buzzer.

Rivera had nothing but respect for the Spartans' execution.

“They ran the ball hard and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Rivera said. “They’re a physical team, they play with a chip on their shoulder and they punched us in the mouth.”

With a 50-point win in the books, Roberts said his team can’t get ahead of themselves with a challenging matchup against Rio Rico next week.

“We’ve just got to build. I just got to keep my team focused and keep them dialed in,” Roberts said. “I’ll let us celebrate tonight but next week we have our work cut out for us.”

The Spartans will travel to Rio Rico next Friday at 7 p.m. Alhambra continues its three-game home stretch on Friday at 7 p.m. when they will host the Central Bobcats (3-1).