Saturday Morning Quarterback: Gladstone beats La Puente 37-7 in a game ended early due to an injury; Bishop Amat fends off St. Paul, 35-24


La Puente-Gladstone photo gallery

La Puente’s Ivan Vasquez rushed to the hospital in loss to the Gladiators

Gladstone impressive again on emotional night: Gladstone High School’s football team wasn’t doing any celebrating on Friday night despite a dominating performance against La Puente in the Montview League opener for both teams.
With the Gladiators leading 37-7 early in the fourth quarter, the game took a tragic turn when La Puente quarterback Ivan Vasquez suffered an apparent neck injury that required the senior to be treated on the field by paramedics and transported to a local hospital.

Bishop Amat holds on: On a night it honored its 1992 CIF-Southern Section Division 1 championship team that also won the Reebok Bowl to finish undefeated and become the first team in California history to post 15 wins in a season, Bishop Amat’s current undefeated team needed to work extra hard to fend off old nemesis St. Paul in the 43rd meeting between the schools on Friday at Kiefer Stadium. Bishop Amat quarterback Koa Haynes completed 13 of 18 passes for 258 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores in Amat’s 35-24 victory over St. Paul.

Damien pulls away in second half: Damien quarterback Gage Pucci returned in the second half and completed 6 of 7 passes for 134 yards and touchdown to lead the Spartans (3-1) to a 31-10 victory over Temescal Canyon (2-3).

Reggie goes nuts for Bonita: Bonita senior running back Reggie Turner had 114 total yards and six touchdowns in the first half, leading the Bearcats to a 57-16 victory over Rowland High School at Glenn Davis Stadium on Friday night.

Suspensions hurt Covina in loss: Northview beat Covina 14-6 Friday night at Covina District Field in Valle Vista League play. The Vikings controlled much of the first half, but only led 7-0 at the half.

Wow, Diamond Bar in a rout: A young Diamond Bar team opened Hacienda League play with a convincing 40-3 victory over Los Altos (3-2).

For stories of tonight’s games, visit the SGV Football page

Tonight’s results
Diamond Bar 40, Los Altos 3
Gladstone 37, La Puente 7
Bishop Amat 35, St. Paul 24
West Covina 20, Diamond Ranch 14
Northview 14, Covina 6
Damien 31, Temescal Canyon 10
San Dimas 42, Wilson 15
Rosemead 16, San Gabriel6
Bonita 57, Rowland 16
Azusa 23, Bassett 0
Sierra Vista 43, Workman 20
Nogales 38, Baldwin Park 19
South El Monte 28, Maranatha 14
Chino Hills 41, Great Oak 20
Claremont 31, Irvine Northwood 14

SCRIBBLE: BISHOP AMAT VS. ST. PAUL
Twitter updates from games straight to scribble using #sgvfootball hashtag

AMAT WINS
By Fred J. Robledo, SGVN
On a night it honored its 1992 CIF-Southern Section Division 1 championship team that also won the Reebok Bowl to finish undefeated and become the first team in California history to post 15 wins in a season, Bishop Amat’s current undefeated team needed to work extra hard to fend off old nemesis St. Paul in the 43rd meeting between the school’s on Friday at Kiefer Stadium.

Bishop Amat quarterback Koa Haynes completed 13-of-18 passes for 258 yards and a touchdown and ran for two more scores in Amat’s 35-24 victory over St. Paul.

Running back Dionza Blue scored twice, finishing with 161 all-purpose yards as the Lancers improved their series lead over the Swordsmen to 27-14-2 while also improving to 4-0-1 with a non-league game against Culver City next week before starting the Serra League. (To continue click thread)

Amat tried to pull away all night, leading by 18 points twice only to have the Swordsmen fight back.

“Did you expect it to be different, we didn’t,” Amat coach Steve Hagerty said. “It was going to be a ball game and they were going to play a great game. It wasn’t going to be a blowout, it’s always going to be a good game against them.”

Over the first month, Haynes has been special.

“He’s doing a lot of good things, hopefully he just keeps doing it,” Hagerty said. “We don’t him to have to be spectacular, but it’s nice to have someone pulling you out when things don’t go as planned.”

Running back Kurt Scoby helped keep St. Paul in it by rushing for 210 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough as the Swordsmen fell to 1-3.

“I thought our kids showed themselves well, if a couple plays went our way it could of gone the other way,” said St. Paul coach Elijah Asante. “He (Scoby) is a workhorse. We’re finding our identity. All of these games are exhibition games until the (Mission) League starts.”

There were fireworks in the final minute of the half that got the Swordsmen going.

Haynes threw a 20-yard pass to Tristan Ruiz followed by a 34-yard pass to Joseph Cook to the Swordsmen 24. After another six-yard pass and Blue 10-yard run, Blue finished the drive with an eight-yard TD run to give the Lancers a comfortable 21-3 lead with 52 seconds left.

Amat, hoping to go for the kill, tried an onside kick that left the Swordsmen with a first down on Amat’s 48.

After Blue missed an easy opportunity for an interception, St. Paul quarterback Paul Telles made them pay on fourth-and-10, nailing a 27-yard pass to Zach Ramsay to the Lancers’ two with 12 seconds left. Telles took it in from there, scoring on a two-yard run with four seconds left to cut the Lancers’ lead to 21-10 at half.

Scoby pulled the Swordsmen to within three after scoring on a three-yard early in the third quarter to cut the Lancers’ lead to 21-17.

But Amat answered quick. Haynes’ short pass to Blue turned into a 58-yard TD reception and 28-17 lead with 6:15 left in the third. Then Haynes helped stretch even more with a nine-yard TD run early in the fourth to finish a 97-yard drive to make it 35-17.

Scoby came right back and scored on a 69-yard TD run to make it 35-23 with 9:54 left, but St. Paul ran out of gas.

Both teams were slow out of the gate.

After a stalled opening series, Haynes finally got Amat going late in the first quarter with a 23 and 12-yard pass and with a couple penalties against the Swordsmen, the Lancers suddenly had a first down at the four. A couple plays later, Haynes scored on a one-yard plunge to give the Lancers a 7-0 lead with 54 seconds left in the opening quarter.

On a double reverse to Joseph Cook, the 6-foot-5 receiver fooled the Swordsmen by pulling up and throwing a 26-yard TD pass to Sal Velasquez, who walked in untouched for a 14-0 lead with 9:08 to go in the half. The officials initially called it back for illegal participation, but after huddling and discussing it, the officials pulled the flag and awarded the Lancers the touchdown.

St. Paul finally got on the board, but it wasn’t what they wanted. After a 14-play drive that started on its own 20, it settled for a 31-yard field goal by Kevin Melendez to trim the Lancers’ lead to 14-3.

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