Pee Wee (semifinal playoffs)
La Canada Gladiators 14, Pico Rivera Dons 13
Vince Lombardi once said that football is a game of inches. At the Quarter Finals Sunday afternoon at Baldwin Park High School, however, it was a game of feet, and the feet belonged to kicker Gladiator kicker Nick McConnell whose two-point conversion in the third quarter was the difference in La Canada Gladiators 14-13 triumph over the tough Pico Rivera Dons.
The Gladiators (9-0) now face the Walnut-Diamond Bar Cowboys (9-0) for the Conference Championship next Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at Mountain View High School in El Monte.
Offensively, the Gladiators showed sparks of brilliance. Ernesto Juaregui led all Gladiator running backs with 114 yards, and quarterback Kyle Cheung efficiently ran the offense with 35 yards passing, and 92 yards rushing including two touchdowns. Nevertheless, the tough Don defense held the Gladiators, who averaged more than 40 points per game, to a season low of 14 points.
The Gladiator defense had an outstanding day. Linebacker Jack Philo lead the defense with 10 tackles, while linebackers Kyle Tavizon had nine tackles and Skyler Payne had eight tackles. A swarming defensive led by Dominc Agular and Sean Davitt, along with Sean Bloks, Chris Harb, Ernesto Juaregui, Sam Brown, Joey McClure, Kyle Cheung, Nick McConnell, Travis Westhoff, Gregory Stupakis, Andrew Dehne, Charlie Bednar, Jack Reilly, Troy Eggertson, and Colin Ducharme constantly harassed the Dons. Neither the Don’s passing attack nor their running game managed to get on track until late in the game.
After an exchange of punts at the beginning of the game, the Gladiator offense took over on its own 22-yard line. The Gladiator offense line of by Bloks, Sean Davitt, Matthew Perasso, Joey Robertson, Chris Basso, Alex Espinosa, Trent Bauer, Gunnar Trowbridge, Michael Reilly, and wide outs Ross Niederhaus, Cameron Chavez, Robert Benson, and Matt Erickson had their hands full with the tough Don defense, but were nevertheless able to open holes for the running backs. The Gladiators pounded the ball down the field behind the hard running of Tavizon, Philo, and Juaregui. On second down from the Don 37-yard line, Cheung dropped back for an apparent pass, but instead elected to scramble. Eluding several Don defenders, Cheung dashed to the end zone. After an unsuccessful conversion attempt, the score remained 6-0 at the end of the first quarter.
