La Cañada stuns San Marino, 14-10

La Cañada football pulled off the big upset late Friday night, taking advantage of some key turnovers to beat Rio Hondo no. 2 team San Marino, 14-10, in a game that altered the league landscape and the playoff chances for both teams.

Though La Cañada won, the Titans sunk themselves with four turnovers — two fumbles, one dropped punt return and one interception, all of which had a huge impact on the game. The Titans also turned the ball over four times on downs.

“We made it harder on ourselves to get to the playoffs tonight,” said San Marino Head Coach D.R. Mooreland. “We had a lot of miscues and a lot of penalties. That’s football. It’s a game of ebb and flow. This time around, we couldn’t get it done.”

But even with the miscues, San Marino still had two possessions late in the fourth quarter and were unable to get beyond midfield.

“This was a playoff game for us,” said La Cañada Head Coach Dan Yoder. “This was a huge win. [Quarterback Rocky Moore] was under control the second half. Hanson had the big pick. We had a good turnover ratio. The defense stepped it up.”

“This means a lot to us,” said La Cañada running back Daleep Sandhu. “Everyone looks down on us and now we got a chance to get to the playoffs.”

At the start of the game, it looked like San Marino was going to win easily. On the first possession, San Marino, behind quarterback Joe Forgatch and running back Benny Hung, were driving well into La Cañada territory. They looked like they were going to drive for a score until a sack by La Cañada’s Brent Johnson led to a fumble, recovered by La Cañada.

The Spartans (4-3, 2-1 in Rio Hondo League play) didn’t make much of it, getting to midfield and punting, and San Marino scored a touchdown on a 3-yard run by Hung to take a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

In the middle of the second quarter, San Marino (6-2, 1-2) drove again deep into La Cañada territory and fumbled again.

Meanwhile, La Cañada’s offense struggled to get anything going. Moore wasn’t connecting on much early and he was hurried or under pressure most of the time. Additionally, the running game was going nowhere. Sandhu ran for -6 yards in the first half on five carries.

But thanks to those two key fumbles, the Spartans were only down 7-0 at the half.