Damien football celebrates a 34-7 win over Loyola (Escarcega).
It didn’t take long to feel the tension on the Damien sideline with 30 minutes until Friday’s kickoff against host Loyola. After a loss to one of the top teams in Orange County in Yorba Linda, the music was nice and loud on social media. Could this be another long season for the Spartans and spell the end of the Matt Bechtel era at the school? Or could this be one of the signature wins against a program with a storied history.
Have you ever experienced a first date that was a blind date? If you have, then you got a good sense of what the Damien sideline was like before the game. People looking at you weirdly, with a curious look in their eye. People sizing each other up, trying to figure out if there was a hidden agenda behind the event. And to be honest, it was a bit uncomfortable. High School writers are in attendance to cover games without an agenda.
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But, with so much being said about the Spartans and Bechtel, I had to see in person what the Spartans were all about. This team couldn’t be as bad as some people on social media made them out to be after their loss to Yorba Linda. There had to be some meat to the bone.
When the smoke cleared, the Spartans showed everyone in attendance that things were just fine as they manhandled Loyola 34-7. As the old cliché goes, “Rumors about the Spartans' demise were greatly exaggerated.”
How overwhelming was the win? Consider the facts:
- Total Yards: Damien 401, Loyola 136 (11 total yards in the second half)
- Total Rushing Yards: Damien 258, Loyola 82
- First Downs: Damien 23, Loyola 5
That’s not even taking into consideration that Loyola had at least 10-12 players that cramped up during the game keeping longtime athletic trainer Tim Moscicki extraordinarily busy. Damien did everything they wanted to do on the offense side. The offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage with Steven Chavez and Zachary Eguia each being the recipients of their work. Chavez rushed for 141 yards on 18 carries and Aguia added 92 yards on 15 carries.
And if you are a bit surprised to see these numbers, I’m right with you. We all know that Bechtel wants to throw the ball and move downfield with ease like a knife through butter. However, it appears as if he has decided that it’s time to go back to “old school” with the objective to ground and pound people.
“I talked to the team this week that we had to be more physical,” Bechtel said. “That was the biggest takeaway from last week. With no disrespect to Yorba Linda, I felt like we didn’t play physical football like we can. We showed that we were able to do that tonight.”
And if you think that two running back system is only a fad, well – you’d be wrong there also. “(Eguia) has been an excellent player in our program,” Bechtel said. “He has put in a ton of work in our offseason program, and I call him ‘quadzilla’ if you look at his legs, you know that he’s working. He’s in the mix with Steven but they are both dynamic runners. You can see with Steven that he is a downhill powerful guy and with (Eguia) he has that burst.”
If it sounds like Bechtel was sticking his chest out after the game, you would be right to a certain extent. We caught up with him during his emotional post-game talk with his players telling them, “To shut up people, you hit them in the mouth. If you just stay off of Twitter and don’t listen to what other people in the media say, we’ll be just fine.”
When he made his way with us after watching his team sing the school’s alma mater song, he picked up where he left off. “All the nonsense being (said) about Damien on social media… it’s terrible. What I’m trying to get my kids to understand is that if we block out all the noise, let the Twitter cowboys be Twitter cowboys and hide behind their keyboards and we’re just going to keep working.”
Here is my entire postgame conversation with Bechtel.
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And if you think the players didn’t hear the noise in the offseason, they did and they also decided to let everyone know on Friday that they kept receipts as well.
“We get a lot of crap talk,” Damien quarterback Dylan Gutierrez said. “We put too much hard work in to take all of that. At this point, we just gotta shut people up. We have to take it personally and let that stir in our bellies.”
Here is my conversation with Dylan Gutierrez:
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Damien Steven Chavez: “We needed to prove to ourselves, and we did that tonight. I don’t need to hear all that noise – I can focus on ourselves and what we need to do.”
Here is my conversation with Steven Chavez.
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Please understand that one game doesn’t make a season. History will be the tool that we need to evaluate a Loyola team that wasn’t just bad on Friday night, they were horrible. They used to be in the powerful Mission League, but the way they performed on Friday, they were more apt to be placed in the Mission Valley League. Also, keep in mind that Loyola is coached by Drew Casani and he is the perfect guy to get things going in the right direction.
As for Damien, they have a Thursday night showdown against Pasadena along with future collisions with La Serna, Orange Lutheran, and Bishop Amat. Those four games will give us all the evidence to see if the Spartans will be a major player in the Baseline League or not.
According to Chavez, Eguia and himself call each other “Batman and Robin.” Well, the SGV’s version of Batman and Robin will be seen again on Thursday night and they are more than happy if the critics continue to talk - they’ll just continue to collect receipts and wins… on the way to what they hope will be a deep run into the CIF-SS playoffs.
Sonora’s Christian Munoz, Steve Peru and Chris Villagrana in Thursday’s win over Rowland (Photo: Sonora High School).
SONORA CHECKS OFF A LOT OF BOXES IN ROUT OF ROWLAND
Before the start of the season, I penned that Sonora is my #2 Surprise Team in the area, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw that they had lost to Whittier narrowly in the season opener. I wasn’t the only person that was surprised by the loss.
“We didn’t play disciplined football, we had a lot of penalties and missed assignments and it wasn’t a reflection of the offseason and training camp that we had and we were surprised by that as a coaching staff,” Sonora coach Kevin Oberlander said after seeing his team defeated host Rowland, 48-7. “(Thursday) we came out and played disciplined football and we limited the penalties, we definitely turned things around tonight.”
I’d say so.
Here is another game where a look at the stat sheet is all you needed to see the dominance of Sonora.
- Total yards: Sonora 430, Rowland 93
- Total Rushing Yards: Sonora 276, Rowland 41
- First Downs: Sonora 21, Rowland 6
Anthony Abad was the leading rusher in the game with 101 yards on 18 carries. The surprising part was seeing how effective quarterback Landon Martin was in the Wing-T system. The senior completed 6 of 8 passes for 154 yards with three touchdowns. Thursday’s game was also a coming-out party for Josiah Binggeli. The senior wide receiver caught three passes for 107 yards with two touchdowns.
“In the Wing-T we’re going to run for more yards that we are going to throw and that is what we want,” Oberlander said. “I thought that we were balanced nicely.”:
For Oberlander, he knows the job of turning around a program that is a bit of a stepchild compared to their more accomplished neighbors (La Habra) is not the easiest job in the world. But, he is more than happy to accept the challenge.
“It’s extremely hard, but I’ll tell you what but we’ve done is focused on La Habra kids, who go to Sonora and live in our city and we’re building our program around the community,” Oberlander said. “The vision are these kids right here and years from now when they come and visit us and see the type of men that they are. That’s the foundation of our program.”
Spend any time around the Sonora sideline and you began to understand how Oberlander’s vision is coming to light. The players positively speak to each other, stay engaged in the game, and create an uplifting bond of trust and togetherness. Several parents, I spoke to after the game say that the only reason they went to Sonora was for the environment that Oberlander promotes.
Winning football games these days is not easy, but the Raiders are figuring out how to win consistently. They’ll have games against Kennedy, Loara, and Esperanza in the next three weeks. For the first time in many years, hope is now a word that can be used within the Sonora program. And that might be a useful commodity when the playoffs get started.
ONE FULL GASSER
Every week, we are going to take a full “gasser” around the area and look at some of the games that were played on Friday that were not the “marquee” games on the docket. It’s time to shine the light on some players that turned in outstanding performances that were “under the radar.”
St. Paul 37, Huntington Park 0: The Swordsmen rang up 415 yards of total offense as they improved to 2-0 with a nice win over a CIF-LA City Section team. Quarterback Andrew Maushardt, a transfer from Servite, completed 14 of 21 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns. Christian Melendez carried the ball 10 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns and Braedon Simonian hauled in 5 passes for 143 yards and 2 TDs.
Monrovia 49, Arcadia 14: In a matchup of nearby rivals, the Wildcats improved their record to 2-0 with an impressive win. Brian Salazar Jr had another productive night, completing 13 of 23 passes for 245 yards and five touchdowns. Running back Marcel Jones carried the ball 14 times for 110 yards and a touchdown.
“I felt our team just stayed focused and executed when we needed to,” Monrovia coach Chris Williams said. “Brian Salazar really got in sync with Jaylen Moore and Carlos Hernandez this week. All three guys had big games. I like that we got a little bit better this week.”
El Rancho 42, Bell Gardens 22: The Dons blew open a close game (22-16 at halftime) with an outstanding second-half performance that proved to be the difference in improving their record to 2-0. Ryan Vasquez completed 18-25 passes for 247 yards and five touchdowns.
“Ryan played really well and looks like he’s continuing to mature and feel comfortable,” El Rancho coach Adrian Medrano said. “We emphasized efficiency this week and he executed the plan nicely.” El Rancho hosts Monrovia in a key nonleague game on Thursday night.
Diamond Bar 27, Chino 7: The Brahmas improved their record to 2-0 for the season with a home debut win on Saturday night. The player that got most of the workload was running back Isaiah Young as he carried the ball 29 times for 134 yards and 3 touchdowns.
“Our boys played hard and came out with a great victory, especially since we got beat by them last season it was nice to get a solid win at home,” Diamond Bar coach Matt Castaneda said, who was ejected on the last play of the game against Esperanza and was not on the sidelines Saturday night. “We had a great game plan for Chino with our staff. Our boys played hard and the credit goes to them and my staff who stepped in.”
Rio Hondo Prep 29, El Monte 6: Ryan McCulloch, a University of California at Berkeley commit, had a big game for the Kares as he rushed for 178 yards on 13 carries and scored two touchdowns in a season-opening win.
“Ryan was tremendous on both sides of the ball,” Kares coach Mark Carson said. “His sacks and QB pressures really altered what (El Monte) wanted to do. Offensively, he did a great job setting the tone physically for what we want to do.” El Monte’s Joshua Juarez had nine carries for 131 yards.
Wilson 47, La Puente 6: Senior Daniel Zarzosa had a big night for the Wildcats (1-1) as he rushed for 151 yards on 14 carries and scored three touchdowns. Junior Jeremiah Ortiz completed 9 of 16 passes for 167 yards with 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Wilson will have a home game on Friday against Rowland.
Nogales 41, Bassett 6: Ivan Flores played a huge role in the win for the Nobles with 2 interceptions, 3 solo tackles, two pass breakups, and two tackles for loss. Boe Canty was the offensive standout as he had 12 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns. The Nobles are 2-0 for the season.
Maranatha 42, Beverly Hills 6: In the season opener for the Minutemen, Michael Martin (a transfer from Cathedral) completed 6 of 7 passes for 123 yards with two touchdowns and scored two touchdowns in a home win over the Norman. Connor Patterson caught 4 passes for 83 yards and scored twice. Sophomore Miles O’Malley had seven carries for 87 yards and scored two touchdowns.
“Our squad got to see their hard work pay off as we continue to strive to reach our full potential,” Maranatha coach Rand Holdren said. “On the defensive front, Jahmel Reeves, DeJohn Jones, and Carter Shupper were all lights out. On top of Carter’s stats, he was 100% at long snapping and we let him call most of the defense in the second half. He is an absolute leader who lives in the weight room and will be playing on Saturdays soon.”
South Pasadena 37, Maywood CES 6: Jason Hong rushed for 101 yards and scored three touchdowns as the Tigers improved to 2-0 with a win over a CIF LA-City Section School.
Temple City 54, Keppel 0: The Rams took the season opener over the Aztecs in Riley Saxon’s first game back as coach at Temple City. Isaiah Douglas rushed for 118 yards and scored 2 touchdowns, but the real star of the game was receiver Judah Douglas, who captured seven passes for 232 yards and four touchdowns.
5 Things that I Think I Think
1. I’m still trying to figure out how good Bishop Amat is. For the second straight year in a row, the Lancers had little trouble dispatching La Habra for the second year in a row with 35-0. Richard Munoz was 14 of 17 for 211 yards with 3 TDs and Delano Franklin was solid as he caught seven passes for 117 yards and a TD. But the road gets a lot tougher this week as big, bad St. John Bosco visits Kiefer Stadium. The Braves come off a statement win over Allen HS in Texas and appear to be head and shoulders above the rest of the competition in Southern California. I think the game to properly evaluate the Lancers will be in two weeks when they travel to La Verne to take on Damien. And I think I’m not the only one trying to figure out the Lancers – so is head coach Steve Hagerty.
2. Last week I mentioned that Pasadena’s defense was no joke and that it was going to be extremely tough to score on them. Glendora found out the hard way last week as the Bulldogs posted an impressive 35-10 over Glendora at Citrus College. Doesn’t hurt that some of the players that were not eligible to play for Pasadena in the season opener against La Serna were given the green light by the CIFSS before Friday’s night win. Having seen both teams play, I make the line pick’em in Thursday night’s early season showdown against Damien. The Spartans may have a bit of advantage up front, but you can’t overlook the speed of Pasadena. It should be a great game with the stands at full capacity.
3. That was a quality loss by La Serna against a Warren team that has been considered one of the top 20 teams in Southern California. Jake Long showed a bit more improvement from his opening week debacle (14-22, 173 yards, 3 TDs) and, according to La Serna coach Andy George, the effort from the Lancers was on display. “It was a full scale all hands-on deck approach,” George said. “I was impressed with the determination and the fight until the very last second. A few missed tackles and a few stalls on offense here and there against a very good football, team.” The Lancers should have no trouble as they hook up with Los Osos this week at California HS.
4. We knew that West Covina was sitting on a big game and that’s exactly what happened on Friday in its 44-14 win over visiting Los Altos. Zach Requena, who coach Mike Maggiore has been high on since the start of training camp, had a big night as he rushed for 200 yards with Thomas White adding another 139 yards. This is what happens when a coach challenges his team early in the season. West Covina scrimmaged Ayala (maybe some people need to remember what Maggiore said after the scrimmage, “Ayala will be a problem for anyone that plays them,”) and suffered a tough loss to a good Alta Loma team. If history offers us any lessons, the Bulldogs will be just fine.
5. Here are my additional thoughts on the week.
South Hills Jacob Calderon with his son celebrating their win over Covina at Covina District Field.(Photo: South Hills HS Football).
a. You can’t help but be impressed with the job Jacob Calderon has done at South Hills. He has taken a program that was swimming with mediocrity and has them 2-0 on the season. Before the season started, Calderon told me, “Don’t judge us until the Covina game.” Well, it looks as if the Huskies will not be the pushover that everyone projected them to be. The sledding gets a bit tougher the next couple of weeks as South Hills takes on Northview, West Covina, and Charter Oak. If the Huskies can find a win within that trio of games, it’s not a farfetched thought to think that the Huskies have a legitimate chance of securing an automatic qualifier into the CIF-SS playoffs.
b. Speaking of South Hills vs Northview – this game needs to be played every year without any excuses. The schools are nearby, and the athletes know each other well. The home team would have a terrific gate (standing room only crowd) and the players would make memories that will last a lifetime. Here is a message to Darren Murphy and David Ochoa, get back to the negotiating table and get another contract signed.
c. Speaking of Darren Murphy, the Northview graduate is making quite a name for himself in the SGV these days. The hire of Jacob Calderon as football coach was a bit of a gamble. He took a chance on a former alumnus that had very limited experience to wake up the echoes of a program that was far removed from its past glory. Calderon is not the only quality coach that Murphy has added. He managed to secure one of the top volleyball coaches in Tiare Tuitama, and one of the fastest-rising wrestling coaches in the area in Claudio Seanez. Murphy is quickly becoming a power broker in the area.
Antonio Merlos is action for St. Francis against Mira Costa. (Photo: Ryan Tomey)
d. What is going on with the St. Francis defense? The Golden Knights gave up 61 points in a loss to Golden Valley in week 0, and then on Friday night allowed 48 points and needed one of those patented Dean Herrington two-minute drill series to pull out a 52-48 win. With Millikan and St. Pius-X/St Matthias on the docket for the next two weeks, things don’t figure to get any better. However, St. Francis has one of the better coaching staffs led by defensive coordinator Mark Gibbons and will find a way to figure it out.
e. The magic was back for a brief moment on Friday when San Marino scored with nine seconds left in the fourth quarter when backup quarterback Brady Beck found Ryan Park on an 8-yard pass on fourth down for a 10-9 win. For a program that has also been suffering from a bad case of mediocrity, a win like this could jump-start the Titans for a successful season. I’ll be watching there game next week against Rosemead very closely.
f. That’s a quality loss for La Mirada against a very good Yorba Linda team. The Matadores kept the game close (14-6 after the third quarter) and stood toe-to-toe with a squad that was impressive last week in winning against Damien. I am fascinated to see how La Mirada plays against a Servite team that is nowhere near as talented as it was last year.
Charter Oak vs Northview in action on Thursday night at Covina District Field. (Gwen Pointer)
g. Quite disturbing to see Charter Oak give up close to 400 yards to Northview in Thursday night’s 38-24 victory. Yeah, we know that Northview is good, but Charter Oak shouldn’t get pushed around like that upfront. I’m still in the skeptic department when it comes to Charter Oak (they’ll need significant improvement to be a major player in the Mountain West title chase) and will not make a further judgment until I see further evidence.
h. I’ll continue to ask this question until someone at Alhambra Unified School District decides to talk to me – When does the disaster end at Keppel and they stop playing football for the safety of the kids? Or maybe the better question is – When will Keppel score a touchdown this year?
i. Teams that had successful starts to the season were humbled in week 1. Among the teams that earned wins on opening night but suffered tough losses on Thursday/Friday included Walnut, La Canada, and San Dimas.
SGV/Whittier Prep Sports Zone Top-20 (We’ll have our 1-60 later this week).
Bishop Amat (2-0)
Ayala (2-0)
Damien (1-1)
La Serna (1-1)
Pasadena (1-1)
Charter Oak (1-0)
St. Paul (2-0)
Monrovia (2-0)
Bonita (1-1)
St. Francis (1-1)
Northview (0-1)
Diamond Bar (2-0)
Glendora (0-2)
La Habra (0-2)
La Mirada (1-1)
Baldwin Park (2-0)
West Covina (1-1)
San Dimas (1-1)
El Rancho (2-0)
Rio Hondo Prep (1-0)
GAME STICKERS
Anthony Abad, Sonora: 18 carries, 101 yards, TD in Sonora’s 48-7 win over Rowland.
Angel Barraza, Northview: 20 carries for 147 yards in Vikings’ 38-24 loss to Charter Oak.
Daniel Andrade, Bonita: Threw for 4 touchdowns in Bonita’s 38 6 win over Mater Academy East in Las Vegas
Baylin Brooks, Pasadena: 4 receptions, 95 yards, TD in Pasadena’s 35=10 win over Glendora.
Boe Canty, Nogales: 12 carries, 153 yards, and 2 TDs in Nogales’ 41-6 win over Bassett.
Steven Chavez, Damien: 18 carries, 141 yards, TD in Damien’s 34-7 win over Loyola.
Judah Douglas, Temple City: 7 receptions 232 yards, 4 TDs in Temple City’s 54-0 win over Keppel.
Jack Jacobs, St. Francis: 19-34, 384 yards, 5 TD’s rushing TD in St. Francis’ 52-48 win over Mira Costa.
Ryan McCulloch, Rio Hondo Prep: 13 carries, 178 yards, and 2 TDs in Rio Hondo Prep’s 29-6 win over El Monte
Jett McCullough, St. Francis: 5 receptions, 116 yards, and a TD in St. Francis’ 52-48 win over Mira Costa.
Christian Melendez, St. Paul: 10 carries, 143 yards, 2 TDs in St. Paul’s 37-0 win over Huntington Park.
Richard Munoz, Charter Oak: Threw for 370 yards and 5 TDs in Charter Oak’s 38-24 win over Northview.
Zach Requena, West Covina: 19 carries, 200 yards, 2 TDs in West Covina’s 44-14 win over Los Altos.
Keanu Tauvao, Northview: Rushed for 248 yards and scored 3 TDs in Northview’s 38-24 loss to Charter Oak.
Ryan Vasquez, El Rancho: 18-25 passes for 247 yards, 5 five touchdowns in El Rancho’s 42-22 win over Bell Gardens.
Julian Venegas Khavari, Alhambra: 14 carries, 110 yards, 2 TDs in Alhambra’s 35-8 win over Glendale.
Thomas White, West Covina: 6 carries, 19 yards, and 3 TDs in West Covina’s 44-14 win over Los Altos.
Links to games covered
Last week we forgot to insert the links to game stories that were covered by writers throughout Southern California. So, let’s get right into it this week.
