FOOTBALL: Blair quiets critics for now
Vikings open some eyes in win over Temple City
Blair High's Devin Fuller picks up a first down during the first half of Rio Hondo League action against Temple City on Friday night. The Vikings remained unbeaten with a 22-10 victory. (Keith Birmingham/Staff Photographer)
Blair High School snapped an 11-game Rio Hondo League losing streak with a big win over Temple City.
I wasn't able to get an answer on when the last time Blair beat Temple City. The closest answer I got by many sources was "a long time."
Everyone talked about Blair's speed, led by Devin Fuller and Raheem Broadnex.
After seeing them in person, I would have to put those two, along with Reinaldo Reyes, as amomg the fastest in the area.
What impressed me the most about the Vikings' win, however, was their defense. For the most part, they were able to shut down Will Do, who returned from a shoulder injury.
Overall, their run defesne is perhaps their weakness, as Johnny Escobedo was able to break off some big runs.
Blair did come up with the big plays when it needed them the most.
And that definitely wasn't the same Temple City team I saw get blown out against Alhambra.
This was a huge win for Blair over a team that could still make noise in the RHL.
I don't feel this can be described as an upset either.
Vikings continue to surprise, 22-10
By Scott Galetti
Staff Writer
PASADENA - Regarded as the weak link of the Rio Hondo League over the years, Blair High School's football team had reason to pound its chest.
As the Vikings stormed the field in celebration of a 22-10 victory over Temple City on Friday night at Pasadena City College's Robinson Stadium, all the years of frustration seemed like a distant memory.
Blair snapped its losing streak to the Rams that dates back to the early '80s.
"This was big," Fuller said. "We opened everybody's eyes, in our league and out of our league."
Known for its team speed, Blair opened some eyes by collecting 314 yards of offense as it improved its record to 5-0.
The Vikings' defense had a lot to do with the victory in the Rio Hondo League opener, holding Temple City to 227 yards of offense.
Blair did a nice job of containing Rams running back Will Do, who made his first appearance since injuring his shoulder against Alhambra in Week 2.
Do was held to 36 yards on 13 carries, and Johnny Escobedo carried the ball 30 times for 131 yards.
"We came in trying to stop Will Do and we stepped up and stopped him," Fuller said. "Their other running back did pretty good, but the defense won us the game."
Junior tailback/linebacker Raheem Broadnax put the Vikings in position to win the game early when he picked off a pass by Temple City quarterback Morgan Hatch and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown.
"I was hyped up and I told my team what I was going to do," Broadnex said.
"That linebacker put us on the board first, and our car got started and we just started rolling," Fuller said.
After being held to 42 yards in the first half, Fuller led the Vikings' charge with 204 yards on 25 carries, including an 80-yard touchdown run with 10:38 to play.
After Temple City, 1-5, cut Blair's lead to 16-10 on a 25-yard field goal by Sebastian Orozco, Fuller got past the Rams secondary for the score on the next play.
He did a somersault into the end zone and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, which resulted in Blair failing on a two-point conversion.
In the end, all that mattered to Fuller was the win.
"That was one of my longest runs and I felt that I deserved to flip into the end zone," Fuller said. "I was telling my teammates that I was going to flip if I broke a long one, and I did."
Added Temple City coach Randy Backus: "That was tough because we got within a touchdown and felt that we could hold them."
Joe Reasner hauled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Hatch early in the second quarter to tie the game.
But Broadnex busted a 79-yard run down the sideline less than a minute later to put the Vikings on top for good.
"Thank Nolan (McSwain) for the block," Broadnex said.
Added Backus: "We had our chances and didn't make plays when they counted and they did, and that's the difference in the ballgame."
A safety after a snap out of the end zone on a Rams punt attempt gave Blair a 16-7 halftime lead.
"Everybody said Blair's not going to do this, Blair's not going to do that and we were going to lose against Temple City," Broadnex said. "We just showed them how we do it."
Backus summed up the game.
"Two long touchdown runs, an interception return for a touchdown and a bad snap for all their 22 points, so their big plays killed us," he said. "We didn't have the speed to match their big plays. Outside of that, we played very well defensively and only gave up two touchdowns.
"They have a good ballclub."
Despite the win, Blair discovered that there still is much work to be done in terms of mental mistakes.
The Vikings were penalized 12 times for 82 yards, including 10 penalties in the second half.
"I don't know what happened with all those flags coming, but we have to work harder in practice to get better," Broadnex said.
64 Comments
Leave a comment
About this blog
 |
|
Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.
I liked reading through your blog, thanks for posting this kind of beneficial content.
I like the variety of their technique. The hand rendered sort treatments are stunning.
My brother and I were just debating th is particular topic, he is generally hoping to show me incorrect. Your view on th is is great and exactly how I really come to feel. I just sent him th is website to demonstrate him your view. Following looking above your blog I book marked and can be back again to learn your updates!
Early learning suchlike identifying opposite shapes and colors also ar ise into the business that helps make it lots of beseeching to younger kids because it helps them to learn with pleasurable.
Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel :)
Excellent page, I like how the website looks! The model is good!
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it's rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. :)
When it comes to succinct on point blogs this is it - here is a little off point thing but it made me smile!
Who stopped payment on my reality check?
Hello. Oh,nice article. Good informations. Happy New 2011 Year
i may perhaps not concur with everything that is l isted since the very best and worst logos?-but i positive enjoyed reading about them and i really appreciate the backwards and forwards d iscussions about the l ists. it truly is nice to discover some passion from the style community!
Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I'm looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
very nice blog, keep it up, will share this to others.
Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.
Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned :)
This is the best blog I've ever seen in my life! I really appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to share your this with everyone.
High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I'm looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks
I truly enjoyed your article. It was extremely educational and useful. I will back to check on upcoming articles
What kind of matter really, thank you for sharing, we have a common interest.
Nice post! GA is also my biggest earning. However, it’s not a much.
Excellent job.
What ever happen to Dfull?
ANON 612
One league game has been played.
Maybe you confused it with your cheerleader tryout schedule. Still time for you to bounce back though.
temple city is not good. I am sick of all this "oh they will bounce back"...the season is halfway over!
TC burned Blair a couple times going on sound. Blair moped around some, talked a little trash, before deciding to make it to the line of scrimmage and jump into a 4 point. Hopefully they learned from that....who knows.
Not mentioned much was the fact Blair has several hitters on the squad. San Marino - stay focused or you will get earholed!!!
Golden Arm,
I've never seen Monrovia play, just read about them year to year. Seems like they are never short on talent and speed. The Rio Hondo is wide open this season. And, for me, it's nice to see Blair in the thick of it. I like the underdog and Blair has been the doormat for soooo long in that league it's nice to see them turn some heads.
Hal Lamaster
- The bye week was a gift from Allah for the Cats - they should be regarded as favorites in the RHL. Unless Blair is able to rule in their undisciplined play, Monrovia will beat them easily. Unlike TC, Monrovia can match footsteps with Blair.
With or without Williams Do in the lineup and healthy - TC will win their next two.
Untouchable,
OK, you posted your message twice. You think we needed to hear that racist point of view? No place for that here. Grow up.
Goldenarm...AND the D-Line!!
DEEEEEFENSE!!!!
walker didnt kill any muir dbs at the UCLA camp,only people he was killin was those sorry white boys and last time i check did walker have at least one catch against muir last year???
Blair has to come out every week now like they did against TC. There are no easy games in the Rio Hondo League, well, Blair used to be the one easy team for the league to feast on. No more.
How do you guys think Monrovia and Temple City match up with eachother?
i have been telling u guys about blair. they r the real team right now. tip much respect towards u. now o-line good job to u too
hey SM you are not playing Keppel this week - you can suit up Mooney and DRM and you will still lose by 40!
blair 44 - SM 7
Regarding the O-line -
After a long drive when the O-line is heading off the field for the sideline...good time to stand up in the stands and shout out "GOOD JOB O-LINE!! Or whatever words do the job for you.
Do it loud.
That summersault was tacky. And, I agree, not enough praise for all of the O-lines and D-lines on all of the teams. Hard working big guys with very little credit!
GoldenArm,
What is football without clichés? I like your choice in musicians and especially that song. Sometimes I feel like a Manish Boy myself… And no, I was not making a coded message about "No B." However, I like the way you think. /cheers.
The kid I was talking about on the Blair OL was a B Smith. He played left guard and did a tremendous job against #53 on TC's team. I think Smith was #74 but I forget. (Old Age?) I have seen 53 from TC on film and against other teams. That kid for TC is tough as nails and has a nose for the ball. Blair’s left guard B Smith nullified his play most of the night and that was critical in Blair’s win. But, who ever talks about OL play anyway? It is all about the QBs/RBs/WRs. The Blair running backs/receivers won’t let you forget it also based on their quotes after the game. A person would think that there was no OL playing that night and just Superman like performances from 2 or 3 guys from Blair versus 11 TC defensive players. One must remember, somebody was blocking for the Blair runners. In fact, several plays I noticed blocks downfield on safety’s from the OL and from Smith in particular. You want to talk about a bright spot on Blair’s team? Look no further than the Offensive Line.
I hate to see talent wasted. Blair is the most talented team I have seen in the SGV this year (I have yet to see Duarte/Arcadia). In the end, Blair will fail because of their lack of baring, hot tempers, poor discipline, an inability to run a successful offense between the tackles, and an inability to adjust to defenses. But, watching a summersault into the end zone to score a TD is worth it right?
Here's an alternative view.
SM's defense holds down the Blair offense for a half, and SM scores a couple TDs. It's 14-0 at the half. Start of the third quarter, Blair puts together a long drive and then blows it at the end and SM responds with a long drive of its own and goes up 21-0.
Does Blair come back from that?
Granted, this is a pretty unlikely scenario because Blair's offense is going to be tough for SM's defense to stop.
But let's say something like this happens. Does Blair have it in them to come back?
I think they do.
Blair Football is 5-0!!!!! WE are going all the way...Wait till Basketball season starts!
MuddyWaters
last time you sang "I'm a Man" ...you did say "no B" right...
did that B stand for Blair?
Your comments prove you saw the same game I did, but were just sitting on the other side of the field. Is big number 74 for Blair the kid you are referring to?
anon 10/14 9:03am
I'm back, how can I help you?
O-cat.
Don't rely on the video to reference the foot speed. I know zip on 40 times from these guys, but in person..it was pull away speed. Monrovia is more complete and has greater depth..and also bigger and stronger as you state. I don't see Blair running the gauntlet - but they played inspired ball against TC, despite far too many motion penalties and other mental lapses.
They have a couple big hitters as well...facemask in the numbers sytle.
Thats blair was real nice. Im also interested in seeing the Arcadia-Pasadena game on friday, and seeing how for real are the apaches. Is it at Pasadena or Aracadia???
I love the Blair Video, but there was a big Mis Quote by the host saying that Fuller is the leading rusher in the SGV. Chris Harris of Duarte is by far the leading rusher in the SGV both east and west. Looking at the viking play they played good in spots but they must play extra tough to beat all of the teams in the RHL..especially Monrovia, who is acutally faster, bigger and stronger than Blair. Most of the starting team is back from injuries and they look like the Wildcats of old. It should be a great showdown in two weeks. This weeks game of the Week should be a great game as well. I might just skip the Monrovia=LC game for the Arcadia-Pasadena game. This is where the Smack talking will end on this blog for the Pacific league. I do have Pasadena with the edge on this game primarely because of the speed issue. Monrovia played them tough with a 85% sophmore and Jr. starting lineup and with around 5 key injuries. I Pasadena is healthy it could be a long night for Arcadia. If Pasadena comes out slow and doesn't play good defense it will get hammered.
The Kenyon brothers were studs at Blair from 1984-1990. I think one of the brothers played D1 ball, not sure.
ATOMIC DAWWG
mcsheckydawg;
Blair lost to Upland 22-21 in the first round of the '84 playoffs.
It has been a while since Blair has won the RHL. The last time I know for certain was 1984. Tommy Gholar was the QB (an absolute stud) and John Robinson's son was a LB. Art Neff and a kid by the name of Kenyon were blair's studs on the DL and OL respectively. TC and SM were 2 and 3. Those teams made it to the semis and played each other. I foget what happened to Blair. Speaking of Blair, they have had a few chances since then, but have failed. I am not certain if that will be the case this year. It certainly will be great story to watch.
New York is on vacation
I heard VH1 was going to start a new reality series "I Miss New York" Has anyone seen or heard from NY?
A-DAWWG
I have no answer to your question. I was not implying he was risking aggravating any injury...only that I saw the game and wonder why no one else mentioned whether Do looked on his game or not. Just look at the descrepancy in # of carries between Escobedo and Do. This was his first game back - so possibly he was just feeling it out.
If there was an increased threat of injury - there is no way the TC staff would pump Do into the mix.
As I stated,I take nothing away from the Blair defense or their win, it was well deserved. But anyone who saw Do against Arroyo this year or anytime last season - would immediately see he was not 100%.
The bottom line was TC played hard and got beat. The team speed of Blair's D allowed them to close coverage gaps incredibly fast and prevent any big plays from hurting them. Blair hit hard and that alone was impressive. TC had plenty of opportunities to take the game..and didn't - and you know how tough that makes a loss. Escobedo deserves kudos for a 110% effort and performance on all 30 of his carries. Overall the TC defense played well, though got stung on a couple long runs - the old "speed kills" on the prep level cliche.
Next Friday is crucial.
Goldenarm & TC fans;
If DO was still hurt and only ready at 75%, then why play him. Is just like the movie "Friday Night Lights" when their star RB came back after a major knee injury and got hurt within 2 plays after direct orders from the medical staff NOT to play.
It is not worth to have a player injured. This is NOT the NFL where they have safety insurance and a bank account of $5 Million.
DO; Be physically and mentally ready at 110%
ATOMIC DAWWG
Poppa,
Tip, is not the sharpest knife in the kitchen, so I don't think he will be the Dog's coach! I know from the inside......."duh"!
what happened to the SM & Alhambra fans, talking about how they have the best backs in the valley...yeah right
The GOOD: Gratz to Blair for beating TC. Speed kills and Fuller is speed personified. Who is this kid Smith on the Blair offensive line? He manhandled TC’s #53. Wait until you see what Smith did to #53 on film.
The BAD: Poor sloppy play by both teams. TC looked like a beat team by mid way through the 3rd quarter. Where was TC’s #5? Tip, why not take a knee when less than a minute to play? It might save an injury, fumble, or cheap shot from either team.
The UGLY: Blair, I hate to say it but your ride will be coming to an end unless you fix the poor attitude and selfish play. Blair’s penalties and multiple mental mistakes from both the players and Tip (I am a huge Tip fan) will cause this team to fail when truly tested. One cannot live on “Pitch-Right, Pitch-Left” alone.
what happen to the rich SM guy?
If Blair played Arcadia Muir Pasadena Burbank CV or Burroughs theyd get their buts whooped
Maybe Blair can now get some decent helmets and poppa can buy a dictionary.
BLAIR IS WILL HAVE AN OUTER BODY REGULAR SEASON , BUT THEY ARE GONNA GET WHOOPED IN THA PLAYOFFS , THEY PLAY IN THA CUPCAKE RHL , THEY ARE LC , TC, MONROVIA ALL ARE SKELETONS OF THEIR OLD SELVES AND BLAIR JUS HAS THA RYTE MIX OF PLAYERS , AND KISHON SANDERS AND DEVIN FULLER ARE BIG PIECE OF THAT , I KNEW IT B4 THEY STEPPED ON THA FIELD I COACHED BOTH OF THEM THEY WERE SPECIALS PLAYERS AS YUNGSTERS , AND KEY HAS BEEN AROUND PASADENA FOOTBALL HIS WHOLE LIFE, IT SHOCKED 2 SEE HIM AT BLAIR BUT TIP IS THERE , DONT BE SUPRISED 2 SEE SANDERS WITH THA DAWGS IN BY HIS JUNIOR YEAR
Temple City is a class act and I enjoyed playing against them. They're pep squad, pep band, and team were excellent. Blair is very fast and a lot stronger than people might realize. The Vikings did what they had to do to win even though they played sloppy. Next week could be the biggest game of the season for Blair becuase we will see if they improve or if they have peaked.
F-ball Einstein,
I guess you missed the game last night. TC was neither healthy or well balanced, as you state.
No excuse, but did you see Do...late to the hole, unable to cut and running robotically straight ahead? He is maybe 25%..his left ankle was heavily wrapped and he was limping all night. Like I said, no excuse ..Escobedo ran hard and had excellent yardage. TC lacks a decent passing game and it showed last night. 4 or 5 near picks and the gimme pick in the flat for a Blair TD. The snap out of the endzone was a crucial momentum swing. Blair's defensive team speed is evident and pretty much awesome...their offense is undisciplned and is defined by the left/right toss and sweep...which worked even when TC strung it out and contained the outside.
Again, hard physical play by a determined Blair. Blair's D was the difference in the game. TC pretty much self-destructed,
sometimes looking flat and unprepared. Becher and Reasoner and others on the TC D played outstanding, but were on the field too much in the 2nd half. TC looked at times like they were playing NOT TO LOSE, rather than playing to win. They need something more than the roll right/throw right pass play and need to integrate it into their game earlier in the game. The TD pass to Reasoner was pretty much improvised/scramble and desperation...a good effort but not a timing type well scripted play.
Again, congratulations to the Vikes - they OUTHIT TC, which I wish were not true. Rams will recover.
Blair is feeling pretty good right now. This team has proved many wrong, but still have a ways to go. Blair has been waiting a long time for this chance at the RHL. I hope they pull through. "Keep your courage Vikings"
Props to Blair they have a very talented team. They beat a well balanced healthy TC football team last night. They have the potential to run the table in the RHL. My only concern with Blair is they make a lot of mental mistakes. Blair should have won 30-10, but penalties killed them in second half. Good Luck Vikes. Looks like a long season for the Rams.