Alemany Riddles Palmdale, 35-15

The Palmdale High defense--what defense?--was reminiscent Friday night of the stunt man in the beer commercial who gets shot up in the saloon.

It was full of holes and sprang touchdown-size leaks all night.

Alemany quarterback Joey Rosselli was the gunfighter with the smoking pistol as he threw for 338 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Indians to a 35-15 victory in a nonleague game at Alemany.

Rosselli, who completed 18 of 27 passes and threw one interception, lofted a pair of 69-yard touchdown tosses (to Terry Barnum and Greg Benitez) in the second half as Alemany expanded on its 14-3 halftime lead.

“Rosselli is a hell of a quarterback. He put the ball in there all night,” Alemany Coach Pat Blackburn said.

The senior quarterback’s heroics bailed out the Indians (2-2), who were limited to 31 yards rushing by Palmdale (0-4), a Division II semifinalist last season.

Rosselli threw first-half touchdown passes of 13 and 12 yards to Mark Dannemiller and Benitez.

Dannemiller also returned an interception 51 yards for a touchdown in the third period as Alemany took a 28-3 lead after three quarters.

Benitez had four catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns.

Both teams were penalized for more than 100 yards--Alemany 13 times for 122 yards and Palmdale 10 times for 108 yards.

Palmdale turned the ball over five times. Quarterback Joe Pica threw two interceptions and completed 12 of 34 passes for 196 yards and one touchdown.

Rosselli completed his first eight passes and finished 11 of 13 for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

Tom Leite’s 23-yard field goal gave Palmdale a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter, but Rosselli responded by leading Alemany on a 74-yard drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass to Dannemiller as the Indians took the lead for good.