PLACENTIA — Atop the bleachers on the home sideline at Valencia High reads “Hawks Nest,” with the signage flanking each side of the pressbox.

In a battle of Hawks breeds, it was the visiting Sea Hawks who had their wings clipped on Friday night by a familiar face.

El Dorado wide receiver Justin Karg had three touchdown catches and scored on a 2-point conversion, and the Golden Hawks’ defense did the rest to deal Redondo Union a 31-6 season-opening loss in a nonleague game at Bradford Stadium.

Redondo (0-1) is coming off of three consecutive winning seasons, including last year’s nine-win campaign while moving to the Pioneer League. But Coach Keith Ellison was frustrated with this showing.

“I don’t know if we got off the bus tonight, honestly,” Ellison said after his team failed to produce a touchdown on offense and hurt itself with penalties from start to finish.

El Dorado (2-0) scored at least 30 points for a second consecutive week to open the season. Karg finished with 10 catches for 163 yards.

El Dorado coach Zack LaMonda, who was the offensive coordinator at Redondo from 2012 to 2014, said his team happened to get his former team “on maybe an off day.”

LaMonda was proud of his defense, which has not allowed a touchdown through the first two games. Redondo’s only score was on an 11-yard interception return for a touchdown by defensive back Santi De La Torre.

“Our defense is playing lights out,” La Monda said. “That’s two games in a row that they’ve pitched shutouts, so I gotta buy a lot of donuts tomorrow morning.”

The El Dorado defensive stars included Max Bustamante, who had two sacks, including a safety, against Redondo quarterback Cole Leinart to open the scoring early in the second quarter.

Leinart credited El Dorado’s game plan for pressuring him and putting him on the run.

“Brought good coverages and different blitzes – a lot that we had a hard time picking up,” Leinart said. “But I still had a bunch of faith in the O-line. We just gotta come out, start better. We started off flat.”

Redondo was ominously penalized three times on its opening possession and finished with nine.

When told of the count, Ellison could only chuckle before saying it was likely “a lot more than that.”

“That’s being generous,” Ellison said. “But, yeah, penalties, all the false starts, plays being brought back.

“This is about as bad of a performance of a team I’ve ever coached in my life. I gotta figure out how to fix it.”

Trailing 9-0 late in the second quarter, Redondo punted to put El Dorado on its own 6-yard line.

On the next play, De La Torre picked off Golden Hawks quarterback Hudson Shaddow over the middle and ran it back to get his team within three points with 3:57 left before halftime. The extra-point attempt was blocked to keep the deficit at 9-6.

“I just dropped down … saw the quarterback’s eyes,” De La Torre said. “I saw the ball, grabbed it and just ran in the end zone.

“I was hoping it would give us more motivation.”

Instead, Karg punctuated a strong first half with his first touchdown catch of the night.

Karg took advantage of a fallen Redondo defensive back and Shaddow found him wide open for a 35-yard score to push the lead to 16-6 with 1:47 left in the half.

It made up for a Karg fumble that was caused by Redondo defensive back Blake Wunderli at the 10-yard line after a 40-yard catch on El Dorado’s first possession.

“(Karg) is just an athlete,” LaMonda said. “He’s a great kid, he’s a great competitor. He’s got a great relationship with our quarterback.”

Redondo couldn’t capitalize on its own opportunity to answer back before halftime.

Leinart marched his team to the El Dorado 22 after a 5-yard run that include a late hit (out of bounds) penalty. On the next play, though, Leinart rolled to his right and fumbled without being touched before Bustamante sacked him for a loss of 17 yards with 43 seconds left.

Leinart finished 14-of-23 passing for 70 yards.

El Dorado running back Cameron Romero rushed for 96 yards and a touchdown on 19 carries. Shaddow completed 16 of 25 passes for 224 yards and the three touchdowns to Karg, whose last grab was a 25-yard score with 3:23 left.

“El Dorado played outstanding tonight,” Ellison said. “I wish we would’ve gave them a little more competition, but they completely kicked our butts up and down this field.

“I need to coach better. When it comes down to it, what we put on the field is my responsibility. So I need to be a better coach – that’s plain and simple.”

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