FULLERTON – Opening night of the football season is full of jitters and has the tendency to be sloppy.
That was not the case for Fullerton senior running back Arthur Shaw on Friday night, looking not only to be in midseason form but putting on a career performance.
Shaw rushed for 306 yards and three touchdowns while carrying the ball only 13 times, leading the Indians in a 48-7 victory over visiting Santa Fe.
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Shaw did a majority of his damage in the first half gashing the Chiefs defense for 263 yards on the ground with touchdowns runs of 47, 54, and 91 yards.
While the first half belonged to Shaw, the third quarter was punctuated by the Fullerton secondary returning three interceptions for touchdowns.
Donavan Plante broke the game open with interception returns for touchdowns on Santa Fe’s first two drives of the second half from 15 and 52 yards respectively.
Hudson Chacon’s 76-yard interception return put the exclamation mark on the Indians’ defensive showing opening up a 41-7 lead with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter.
A short touchdown pass from Fullerton quarterback Cameron Williams to Jaden Zuniga to begin the fourth quarter started a running clock.
In four seasons as head coach at Nogales High School, Richard Salazar led a resurgence in the program seeing it improve from two to ten wins while improving on its win total in each successive season.
Behind Shaw and a strong performance by the Indians’ defense, an improvement on four wins in the first season under Salazar appears well within reach for the Indians.
Shaw opened the scoring on Fullerton’s opening drive cutting across the field for a 47-yd touchdown run.
After punting on its first five drives, Santa Fe’s offense found some rhythm putting together a 10-play 71 yard drive capped by a 1-yard run from Evan Melendrez pulling to within 13 with 1:45 left in the second quarter.
While the Chiefs had to earn every inch of its touchdown drive, Fullerton answered quickly with a 91-yd run from Shaw on the first play of the ensuing possession, sending the Indians into halftime with a 20-7 lead.
It could have been much worse in the first half for Santa Fe, if not for 18 penalties committed by Fullerton, including a hold which nullified a touchdown run that would have resulted in a 21-0 Indians’ advantage. Ultimately that drive stalled for Fullerton when Chiefs’ lineman intercepted a tipped pass.
Melendrez led the Chiefs’ offense with 62 rushing yards.
