October 3-4:
La Cañada Gladiator Weekly Report
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(Teams do not officially keep score)
On Sunday morning at the Jess Gonzalez Sports Complex in Rosemead, the La Cañada Gladiators Junior Gremlin team faced off against the Rosemead Rebels. The Gladiator lineup of Andrew Sharman, Emmet Hurley, Adam Crawford, Austin Heberger, Cayden Smith, Max Nelson, Dylan McGoldrick, Ronald Shin, Adam Griffen, Matthew Bannick, Ryan Gonzalez, John Lytle, Charlie Stewart, Corey Koehler, Benjamin Ahn, Jonathan Ahn, Brian Harley, Mitchell Frus, Devin Mathews and Thomas McConnell together showed their might at Rosemead Sunday morning. Austin Heberger pitched to Running Back Adam Crawford early the first quarter for a 20-yard touchdown. Gladiator defense kept the pressure on Rosemead’s offensive line resulting in a stunning interception by Thomas McConnell for a 40-yard touchdown.
Gremlin
La Cañada Gladiators 19, Azusa Raiders 0
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The first half of the game was dominated by both defenses. Gladiator defensive linemen Drake Barron, Julian Martinez, Jules Buenabenta, Justin Sabourin, Chris Simonian, William Stewart, Derek Albanese, Ashton Baron and Miles Haxton stuffed the Raiders between the tackles and helped the Gladiators get their first shut out. Jackson Totleben, Richard Berry, Connor McGoldrick and Michael Chan showed excellent speed at defensive end, preventing the Raiders from effectively running the ball outside. Linebackers Will McConnell, Elijah Washington, Branden Julien and Mitchell Espinosa blitzed often and made a number of outstanding tackles. McConnell capped his defensive performance with an interception late in the game. The defensive backfield was led by Bobby Gazmarian, Chris Wood, Carson Okland, Will Warren, Jared Bourgault, Clayton Esparza, David Saravia and Jake George. The entire defense played exceptional football for the third straight game. The Gladiators have only allowed two offensive touchdowns by their opponents in the first three games.
The Gladiators finally opened up on offense with a 35-yard touchdown run by Will McConnell with about 1:45 remaining in the half. The offense drove the ball effectively behind quarterback Noah Kim and Tanner Gish.
Next up for the Gremlins is the Claremont Wolf Pack on Oct. 11 at 3 p.m., at Claremont High School.
Jr. Pee Wee
La Cañada Gladiators 6, Azusa Raiders 6
On Sunday morning at La Cañada High School, the Jr. Pee Wee team came back late in the fourth quarter to tie the game against the Azusa Raiders. The Gladiators are now 1-1-1 for the season.
The defense was the story of the day, causing havoc in the Raiders backfield and pressuring the quarterback. John Monroe recovered a fumble and logged a sack while Tyler Hill, Max Burcher, Danny Pardo, Brian Erickson, Michael Doud and a host of others had many tackles for losses and dominated the field. Augy Saucedo recovered a fumble late in the game to half a late Raider drive. The secondary played a proficient game allowing only one completion. Brandon Sharman locked down the corner, while Drew Sarceda and Angel Salazar were in on multiple tackles for losses.
Brett Gangi quarterbacked the offense with many complete passes and runs behind a solid performance from his line of Eli Fazzi, Jason Chang, Abel Fernandez, Blaine Mayhew, Jason Rowton, Anthony Guererro, and Theo Chamberlain. The Gladiators trailed late in the game until Thomas Stea followed Augy Saucedo’s block into the end zone, tying the score. Daivon Grayson played a complete game at running back for a 40-yard gain and kicked a 45-yard punt to give the Gladiators some breathing room late in the second half. The special teams continue to impress and prevent the big play with Blaine Mayhew, Jack Rappard and Robert Rothrock in coverage. Coach Jason Sarceda is putting together another stellar team this year.
Next Sunday afternoon, the Gladiator travel to Claremont High School to face the tough Claremont Wolf Pack.
Pee Wee
La Cañada Gladiators 36, Azusa Raiders 0
On a cool, blustery Sunday afternoon at La Cañada High School, the La Cañada Gladiator Pee Wee team continued their inexorable march towards the playoffs, defeating a tough Azusa Rater football team 36-0. The Gladiators are now 3-0. In their first three games, they have outscored their first three opponents by a combined score of 118-0.
On the first play from scrimmage, Kyle Tavizon charged through a gaping hole for an electrifying 78-yard sprint for the game’s first score. Nick McConnell added the two-point conversion kick to make score 8-0.
The offensive line, led by Sean Bloks, Sean Davitt, Matthew Perasso, Chris Basso, Mike Reilly, Larkin Iverson, Troy Eggertson, Alex Espinosa, Joey Robertson with receivers Ross Niederhaus, Robert Benson, Matt Erickson, Cameron Chavez and continue to carve out holes for a talented group of running backs, which include Tavizon, Jack Philo, Ernesto Juaregui, McConnell and Joey McClure.
The Pee Wee defense has been stunningly superb in its first three games. Led by Skyler Payne, Chris Harb, Andrew Dehne, Dominc Aguilar, Samuel Brown, Charlie Bednar, Gunnar Trowbridge, Gregory Stupakis, Travis Westhoff, Bryan Esparza, Joe and Jack Reilly, the defense consistently stifles the oppenents’ offensive attack.
On the subsequent kickoff, just like last week for the second week in a row, Ross Niederhaus tracked down the opponent’s kickoff returner to save a touchdown. After a fumble recovery by Chris Harb, quarterback Jack Philo rumbled and weaved his way to score on a eight-yard rollout to make the score 14- 0 Gladiators.
After a fourth down defensive stop on a hard hit by Bloks, the offense exploded for a couple of first downs by the Juaregui, setting up a nine-yard pass from Philo to Erickson, which made the score 28-0 just before halftime.
The Gladiators’ visit their next opponent, the Claremont Wolf Pack, at 11 a.m. on Oct. 11.
Jr. Midgets
La Cañada Gladiators 21, Azusa Raiders 0
In a win more dominant than the score indicated, the La Cañada Junior Midgets beat the Azusa Raiders 21 to 0 on a beautiful breezy afternoon last Sunday afternoon at La Cañada High School.
After stopping the Raiders on three plays and a punt, the Gladiators scored on a terrific 49-yard touchdown run by their unstoppable quarterback Will Lombardo. After mssing the PAT kick, the score was 6-0 to end the first quarter.
The impressive Gladiator running game picked up again in the second quarter by driving the length of the field. After a brilliant 37-yard TD run by Lombardo that was negated by a penalty, the Gladiators faced a fourth down with four yards to go. Lombardo picked up the first down, thanks to the tough-nosed blocking of tailback Brodie Felkel, tight ends Todd Murray and Remy Madarietta and the offensive line of Tyler Laskey, Jonathan Sotoodeh, Adam Rowton, Alex Mkrtchyan, Evan Sillas and Justin Petrie.
All members of the Gladiators contributed to the victory. Quarterback Hasan Maaz led the offense for much of the second half with many tough runs. Felkel was outstanding in the kicking game with several booming punts and kick-offs. Rowton made an outstanding interception and return for 30 yards after a tip at the line by Mkrtchyan. Defensive ends Felkel and Murray each had a sack and helped to stifle the running game by pushing the plays inside to the crushing tackling of linebackers Laskey and Rowton. Parada had another interception and Sermak-Proulx, and Yoon had several key defensive plays to preserve the shutout.
The Gladiator Junior Midgets next game is against the Claremont Wolfpack at Claremont High School on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m.
Midgets
La Cañada Gladiators 27, El Monte Jets 6
For the first time this season, the Gladiators Midget team played solid football on offense and defense as well as special teams to defeat the El Monte Jets 27-6 Saturday evening at Mt. View High School. It is the first win of the season for the Midgets, whose record now stands at 1-1-1.
It all started with the outstanding blocking of Dillian Williams, Jacob Reyes, Peter Garfield, Jared Soohoo, Michael Kobeissi, Gregory Morales and Derrick Lee. This unit gave quarterback Ty Gangi ample time to throw the ball and provided huge holes to run through for tailback Jake Johnson and fullback Zachery Washington.
The Jets got on the scoreboard first with a trick play to make it 6-0, but that would be the only time they would reach the end zone. On the Gladiators first play from scrimmage, Jake Johnson took the pitch and raced around the right side untouched for a 55 yard score. That would be the first of two touchdowns for Johnson on the day. Fullback Zachery Washington also scored on a 12-yard run play.
While the offense had a fun time putting points on the board, it was the defense that seemed to be having the most fun. Gang tackling, fumble recoveries and interceptions were the norm for the day. Led by the strong push and continuous pressure up front from Jared Soohoo, Peter Garfield, Jacob Jackson, Russell Marki, Christian Castaneda and Cal Buchanan, the Jets were never able to get anything started on offense. Linebackers Zachery Washington, Austin Brines, Andrew Kaminski and Thomas Rhee were all over the field.
The Gladiator Midget’s next game is Oct. 10 at 5 p.m. at Lincoln Heights High School against the El Sereno Stallions.