A lot to like about Jurupa Hills’ football title

Congratulations to Jurupa Hills for winning the CIF-SS East Valley Division football title on Saturday night with a 41-24 win over San Juan Capistrano St. Margaret’s.

Some thoughts:

  • It was amazing that the Spartans did it in just their fourth year of varsity competition and the first senior class that spent their entire careers at Jurupa Hills.
  • It was clear from the beginning that even though Jurupa Hills wasn’t finishing drives, the Spartans weren’t going to have trouble moving the ball and they could do it either running or passing. They finished with 314 rushing yards and 225 passing. Jurupa Hills was bigger, faster and deeper.
  • After scoring 21 unanswered points in the first half to take a 24-7 halftime lead, the key moments in the third quarter resulted in defensive stands. Two turnovers resulted in two field goal attempts and only one made, and it was still 24-10.
  • St. Margaret’s couldn’t cover Kourde Roberts. I had Roberts with 14 receptions for 168 yards and a touchdown. “We made up our minds that if they were playing off us, we would take short. Then if they came up on us, we would take them deep,” coach Ed McMillon said. Most of the passes were short, but many of those short passes became long gains.
  • With the game in hand, McMillon had some heartwarming moments. He has several girls on his roster (at least 3 on the varsity, but several others suited up Saturday). In the waning moments, he got several of them into the game, including senior Karen Gramajo, who successfully made the last extra-point attempt of the night. It was his chance to give them a chance at the spotlight.
  • Although we don’t know what leagues will be in which divisions next year, this is likely Jurupa Hills’ last year in the division. The Spartans will go into the San Andreas League (currently in the Eastern Division) next year. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like, but people are going to be expecting us to lose again,” junior Christian Steele said. Jurupa Hills will be good, but how good? “We have a lot of good juniors,” McMillon said. “But we’re going to have to find guys to replace those seniors.”

BOX SCORE
St. Margaret’s 7 0 3 14 — 24
Jurupa Hills   3 21 7 10 — 41
JH — FG Oscar Medina 38
SM — Josh Davis 2 run (Charlie Beall kick)
JH — D.J. Wright 7 run (Medina kick)
JH — Wright 1 run (Medina kick)
JH — Wright 5 run (Medina kick)
SM — FG Beall 45
JH — De’Andre Henderson 8 run (Medina kick)
SM — Davis 3 run (Beall kick)
JH — FG Medina 26
JH — Kourde Roberts 29 pass from Wright (Karen Gramajo kick)
SM — Oscar Gomez 16 run (Beall kick)

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