Gladiators Championship Report

In the second half, the Gladiators took the opening kickoff and running backs Juaregui, Tavizon, and Philo relentlessly ground out short gains. Key receptions by Benson and Philo on consecutive third downs kept the drive alive. Tavizon capped the drive with a 10-yard run up the middle and gave the Gladiators a 20-6 lead.

The Cowboy offense continued to have difficulty moving the ball, managing only two first downs in the second half. The swarming Gladiator defense simply was not fooled by the Wishbone attack. In addition to Tavizon’s great effort, defensive end Dominic Agular had an outstanding game with five tackles, including a devastating hit on a Cowboy running back. Juaregui had two sacks, including a key fourth down sack, and seven tackles. Cornerback Nick McConnell had two tackles and a fumble recovery. Cornerback Charlie Bednar seemed to be everywhere on the field with three tackles. Gladiator defenders Sean Davitt, Sean Bloks, Chris Harb, Sam Brown, Joey McClure, Cheung, Travis Westhoff, Gregory Stupakis, Andrew Dehne, Jack Reilly, Troy Eggertson and Colin Ducharme seemed to anticipate every Cowboy play.

After a quick three-and–out, the Gladiators took over near mid-field. The Cowboys were again unable to stop the Gladiators, whose mixed attack kept the Cowboys guessing. On first down from the Cowboy 12-yard line, Cheung hit Philo in the corner of the end zone. After McConnell added the extra point, the Gladiators were up 28-6 at the end of the third quarter.

On the Cowboy’s first play of the fourth quarter, they fumbled at mid-field and McConnell pounced on the loose ball. Later in the final quarter, on third down from their own 43 yard line, Tavizon intercepted an errant Cowboy pass and raced to the end zone. McConnell’s kick put the Gladiators up 36-6.

After another three-and-out for the Cowboys offense, the Gladiators took over and ran out the clock, giving the Gladiators a 36-6 victory and the Jr. All American Conference Championship.

In addition to winning the Conference Championship, the Gladiators also won the Scholastic Trophy with the highest overall GPA of any team in their division, and the Joy Reyes Sportsmanship Trophy for the highest sportsmanship score in their division. Team GPA is determined by averaging the grades of each member of the squad. Sportsmanship is determined by the officials who score each team in several categories following every game. The Gladiators competed with 32 other teams in their division for these awards. For the first time in the history of Jr. All American Football a single team won all three awards in the same year.

Credit is due to the coaches, the players and the players’ parents for these three awards. Submitted by Kevin Lacey