The North High School football team defeated Carl Hayden 35-6 in the latter’s first home game of the season Friday night.

Carl Hayden came into the game with an 0-3 record, seeking its first win against a tough 2-1 North team.

North dominated from the start, marching 61 yards down the field and scoring on their first drive on a short rush by quarterback Anthony Badilla.

Carl Hayden responded early in the second quarter with a 68-yard drive of their own, culminating in a one yard touchdown rush by running back Jorge Mendez.

It didn’t take long for North to regain the lead as senior running back Dominic Fiorucci ran the ball 68 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown on the first play of their next drive.

North would score once more before the end of the half, on a 4-yard rush by Andre Johnson to put the score at 21-6.

Carl Hayden coach Randy Gross was upset with the amount of fumbled snaps in the first half, and tried to fire up his team during the break.

“It’s a lack of discipline,” Gross said. “The ball’s on the ground way too much.”

After a 17-play Carl Hayden drive to start off the second half came up empty, things only got worse for the Falcons.

Fiorucci took the ball 78 yards up the middle for a score on the first North play of the second half, extending the lead to 28-6.

Junior quarterback Justis Delgado led another long drive, but once again was unable to score any points. 

“We weren’t focused during the game,” Delgado said. “We weren’t disciplined, too many penalties.”

Once again North responded with a short drive, scoring on their second play with another long touchdown run from Fiorucci. He was unstoppable the whole game, ending with 16 carries for 280 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

One bright spot of the game for Carl Hayden was the play of junior running back Jorge Mendez. He carried the ball 16 times for 74 yards and the Falcon’s only touchdown of the game.

“I kept finding consistent holes and just trying to get up field,” Mendez said. “My guys kept opening up big holes.”

Mendez also plays defense as an outside linebacker, and felt that Carl Hayden played lazily on that side of the ball.

“We need to get better at doing our assignment and pursuing the football,” Mendez said.

After a spectacular game last week where he was the main component of the Falcons offense, running back Eric Baeza couldn’t find much success this week against a tough North defense.

Baeza carried the ball 13 times for 23 yards and was frustrated throughout the game as North cut off his path to the outside edge of the field.

“The plays were there to be made,” Baeza said. “All we had to do was execute and we would’ve been successful.”

Carl Hayden sits at 0-4 on the season after this outing, and will play another home game next Friday against Maryvale High School, who is also 0-4.