VIDEO: Hall of Fame Game: East 34, West 9; Allen throws two TD Passes, West are no-shows.
By Steve Ramirez, Staff Writer
LA PUENTE - There were members of the East who believed the West's victory in last year's San Gabriel Valley Hall of Fame Game was a fluke.
They proved the point Friday.
Charter Oak's Chris Allen and Kiely Rycraw accounted for four touchdowns between them, the Chargers' Evan Williams had an interception for a score and Rowland's Brandon Stansell returned a punt for another as the East cruised to a 34-9 victory in the 30th Hall of Fame Game at Bassett High School. It's the largest margin of victory by either side since the West scored a 26-0 victory in 2001.
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"It felt good," said Allen, who is giving up football to play Division I baseball at Cal State Northridge. "We came in here with an attitude. We took it upon ourselves to be more physical and show them what the East is all about. We just wanted to get the win back on the East side."
But the West, keyed by a 66-yard pass reception from Matt Torres to South El Monte's Manny Acosta, took control early, but could just manage a Bobby Maldonado 25-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead, despite two drives inside the East 20.
"We just had too many mistakes. We were in the red zone like five times and kept turning it over," said Acosta, who finished with 119 yards receiving. "But I don't mind. This was my last football game, and I just went out there to have fun."
The East, which had a minus-21 yards in its first two possessions, started to enjoy itself by the second quarter, and San Dimas' Daniel Joseph proved to the difference.
Joesph, a key cog in the Saints' high-powered offense this past fall, rushed 10 times for 71 yards, including runs of 29 and 23 yards to advance the East to the West 10. Two plays lost five yards before Allen tossed 15 yards to Rowland's BJ Oyefeso on a fade route for a 6-3 lead with 4:45 left in the half. The conversion failed.
"BJ just said throw up the ball and he'll go get it," Allen said.
The East then left it up to its defense and special teams to take control over the final five minutes of the half. The defense did it first.
Walnut's Chima Ike pressed Torres into an errant throw that was picked off by Charter Oak's Evan Williams, who returned it back 48 yards to push the advantage to 13-3 with 1:25 left.
Stansell, who already had the big interception to stop one drive, then got into the act. He showed his athleticism, zig-zagging through defenders to return a punt back 56 yards on the final play of the first half for a 20-3 lead.
"Yeah, it was a big return," Stansell said. "The coaches wanted me to fair catch it. But when I saw the hole (on the right side) I just picked it up and ran."
Rycraw then got into the act, catching TD passes of 21 and 23 yards from Allen and South Hills' Cameron Deen, respectively, for a 34-3 advantage early in the third quarter.
The West made it 34-9, driving 99 yards and scoring on a 1-yard run by Rosemead's Angel Alejandre.
"We used last year as motivation," Stansell said. "We wanted to bring it back to the East. We were getting tired what they were saying and we had to come out here and show them."
steve.ramirez@sgvn.com
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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. |
Maranatha will play Muir sometime next week during a passing league game. This will be a great match-up for both schools. Maranatha played very well vs Upland, Corona Roosevelt, Lynwood, and beat La Serna and Pomona.
Glendora played fair and Monrovia had a great run.
Yeah Muirs field is already rolled out and it looks really nice but the track isn't in yet
Speaking of Muir and PHS anyone knows if they are still getting new football fields and tracks this year.
no one from the west wanted to play in this borring game at basset high
no muir athletes were present along with phs
they have elected to play in the fiesta bowl on july 11th.
Hey Goldenarm does us a favor and give us your top ten players in the west valley in 2009. Everybody knows that you can pick them better that Guru fool. I would have to say that Luis Diaz from Rosemead has to be in the top five.
FJR,
You got that right...we need the pain anyway...as motivator.
It seems the better team prevailed.
I was at Bonita over the weekend. Monrovia, Arroyo and Maranatha are some of the local schools that looked pretty good. Arroyo doesn't have a lot of size, but they are quick and their qb is pretty accurate. Maranatha has a D1 caliber qb. Monrovia beat Wilson, Walnut, Ayala, Los Altos and La Serna. Some key players couldn't make it for the 2nd day which limited them, but Bueno and Ramirez had a good tournament.
Miguel, Miguel, I know it hurts to update the final score of the East winning handily as predicted, but not posting it won't change the final score, 34-9.
a little insight from someone with background on both sides of the 10/605 interchange regarding the HOF game and SGV schools
...Aram himself:
Aram said:
OK, I'll take this one. I grew up in the West, covered it for a while, then covered the East. The West has schools that can easily stack up with the East. They just have less of them. That probably stands to reason because the area is smaller. You have more bigger schools (WestCo, Glendora, Diamond Bar and so on) in terms of attendance in the East. You have more small schools (Maranatha, Pas Poly, La Salle and so on) in the West.
When I started, I covered mostly Star-News teams. Did Pasadena, Arcadia, St. Francis, Monrovia, San Marino, Alhambra, Temple City games. When I got to the Trib, all I heard was "It's a whole different ballgame out here."
Uh, yes and no. The season sure lasted longer. As in usually 13-14 weeks. But that's probably just because the West schools were horrifically placed in their CIF divisions for so long.
.......With divisional changes, time to do what needs doin.
GA,
I will reserve my opinion of PHS for a little while longer. However speaking with some of the returning players they have already bought into McFarland’s system and are feeling much better about their team than they have in the last couple of years.
WHEN DOES FOOTBALL COVERAGE START??
There is a lot going on.
IF ANYBODY WAS AT BONITA....can we hear some word?
Stang Fan,
Maybe it was a little enthusiastic, but I had a chance to see a bit of PHS rolling in the dirt/grass last week...and you could see the makings of a team. Every year at this time, you look at what you got and wonder...can we kick anybody's ass, somebody's ass??? If McFarland is good, if his coaching staff is good, there are some kids who can become players - on their field. No question. Miquel.....how is PHS doing in passing tourneys? Has anyone seen them?
As far as the Rams, there are some kids starting to show their stuff. Our defense is really young...which is a concern. But once we pad up, things will fall into their rightful place. If you can't tackle - chances are defense ain't your thing!
Trust me you dont really want to see highlights from the HoF game. I was there for some of it, and man it was not pretty. The East's big men, just destroyed the West's. It was pretty bad. Man the east had a receiver #2 I think, who was a monster. They could have thrown to him all game long. To bad it turned out the way it did, kids worked hard!!!
??? What Happened ???
At least I had a BLAST @ The River !
Fight On
TM
Whoa....man, I'm kind of glad I didn't go to the game. What in the HELL happened out there?!?!?! I'd like to say that the best players from the WSGV weren't there, but some of the ESGV's weren't there either. Something tells me though, that had Bingo, Golper, Jacobs, Shilz, Campbell, and some of the other players from the West played, it would have been a MUCH better game. That's just downright embarrasing!
Btw, when I said that Dunlap was the 6th or 7th best "player" from Muir, I meant to say "senior." I forgot to mention that there were some underclassmen who were MUCH more valuable to the team.
GA,
!stang! is right about the tussle, but I get your point. More than that though, I'm hearing my prognistications of Muir going at least 8-2 are quite off. Apparently, the young guys just are NOT stepping up as of yet and are having a DIFFICULT time out on the passing league circuit. I REALLY look forward to a season where the big ugly's are the story every single week. It's all just around the corner.
Game Story and Video Highlights on Saturday.......?
Goldenarm,
I'm just saying I though Alejandre was the best QB going into the game. Sure he didn't get the hype Deen and Allen got, but he was a damn good QB for Rosemead the past 2 years. The East D was very good! Fast, physical and very athletic!! Too much for the west to handle. If you saw that pick for a TD, you saw both Charter Oak players make that play. 1st Tyler Perri, the DE, smacked Sumler the RB who was suppose to catch the screen pass and Evan Williams read it and dropped right into the throwing lane. Again a great performance by the East!
I was really impressed with the Rosemead kicker. He had a field goal and a couple of nice punts. I really believe that he can play at the next level and get better.
Mike
Torres got picked in the end zone, killing a West drive - that hurt, and Alejandre got picked for a 50yd East TD, that really hurt. Maybe what that says is the East played smart aggressive D...
20 points in the 2nd quarter turned the game. Also a punt return for a TD - didn't hurt either.
Not sure I agree about the QB's. I thought Angel was the best of the bunch going into the game. The East only threw tha ball about 10-12 times I think all night. Tra was maybe the 5th or 6th best player on the field that night. Stansell from Rowland, Joseph from San Dimas, BJ from Rowland and Allen & Rycraw from Charter Oak were all better than the trash talking #4 from Rosemead. This game could have been worse if the East coaching staff didn't take their foot off the pedal in the 3rd quarter. Dominating performance from the East!!!
O-cat,
I would like to hear Koffler's take on what transpired.
What was his plan and what he saw happening on the field.
Dooley is a good kid, fairly small (similar size to Ruckle)and a hard nosed runner. Miquel should post the game stats so we can see YPC. After hyping Tra, you would think 10 carries minimum? MWillimas breaks one tackle at the line of scrimmage and thats all that is needed to put the end zone in sight. Too many missed opportunities.
I agree on the QB's. Bottom line I just wish the West had made a better showing.
What. Happen with dunlap Tra and Garner? Dunlap got scored on with ease Garner never showed Tra is the wrost player in the area was impressed by St Francis younker he had a great game with 8 tackles and a Sack number 50 also has a good game he had 7 tackles and the program says he will attend Minnesota look forward in seeing him number 55 Aguilar had a good game he had 5 tackles and a Sack but my favorite player to watch was number 44 Cesar Chavez what heart his kid has
Fans, say what you want about that Whack all star game, but If I'm not mistaken Between Marquise Williams and Tra Summler they only had about 3-4 carries each. Either the Kid from San Marino had a lot at stake in this game or the Coaching staff for the west was so off point with their decision making strategies that maybe they should consider taking another full time job this fall. The Biggest difference in the game was comparing the QB's from each side. The west looked like a pop warner team vs. Allen & Deen from the east. Both Defenses played well although the west stayed on the field 75% more after the first quarter. So for those who spent their money looking forward to seeing an explosive backfield of Summler & Williams you were DOOPed! If anyone has seen those two all year long you would know not to make such silly comments about their play on Friday.
i was actually really disappointed with sumler. all of the hype ive heard about him, alot of it from this blog, was not lived up to. he may have done amazing during the season, but last night's game did not put his reputation to justice
Ga, I think the last couple tussels have been good games according to the score.we all know the game doesn't have nothing to do with size and speed , its all about the heart. If coach .ike can teach that then it will be a great tussel. The last couples years the game came down to the last possession .
Stang Fan,
It is going to be a better Tussle this year.
There is some size and speed over on the PHS practice field....and it appears to be motivated!
Where is the Huck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The west lacked the talent and size to compete. The west was getting dominated on the defensive line by the sheer size of the East.
Sumler fumbled on the first poss / East recovered. M Williams and Scott Dooley caught a couple nice passes. Williams pass recept got down to the 5, but no TD followed.
Lopsided.
A lot of hot air by Koffler.What happened to his Superman,Sumler? I thought the kid was the best in the SGV. I guess not.
i think #3 the corner kevin garcia??? i think thats his nme but hes under rated. he's a pretty good ball player!
Well in my opinion the westside team didn't seem to be insinc with each other. The announcer didn't read out the players names correctly (Marquise not Marcus) which also can be discouraging. They should have had someone else announce or someone nearby to help pronounce correctly. I don't think they utilized my son to the best of his ability. Fullback is not what he is he is thee RunningBack and the coaches should of had the offensive line block for him. The QB should of handed off to him more than what they did. But all is well over and done with and the result is in. Good luck next year Westside I hope you the best.
JIM HAD THE EASTSIDE READY TO GOOOOOO!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "WESTSIDE BACKFIELD"...... WASNT EVEN "CLOSE"...
"KOFFLER"...WOW THAT WAS BAD!!!!
JIM HAD THE EASTSIDE READY TO GOOOOOO!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE "WESTSIDE BACKFIELD"...... WASNT EVEN "CLOSE"...
"KOFFLER"...WOW THAT WAS BAD!!!!
Miquel,
Was it out of mercy you have spared us the highlights of the HOF game?
I thought Koffler was supposed to have the team prepared? They score 3 points basically, except the last 99 yd. drive late in the game. The East walked.
Sounds like a case of bad football? What killed all killed all those drives?
Saying the West victory last year was a fluke....could make a more sensitive man feel butt hurt. Congratulations to the Eastsiders.
What happen with Dunlap?
Predictions for MVP??
Marquise Williams
my boy rian younker is gonna tear it up tonight