Introduction:

The 2013 Gladiator Football season began last Saturday, September 21^st at La Canada High School.  All Gladiators teams played the Huntington Park Spartans. It was a banner day. All our tackle teams won lopsided victories.  The following parents contributed articles: Sara Ortiz, Chris Faulkner, Jeremy Cicneros, Greg Kekahuna, Chara and Gary Campanella, Amy Lydon Seiter, and Ken Putnam.

JR. GREMLIN FLAG

La Canada Gladiators v. Huntington Park Spartans

(Teams do not keep Score)

On Saturday morning at La Canada High School the Gladiator Junior Gremlin flag team commenced its season against the Huntington Park Spartans. Although score is not kept at this level, head coach Keenan Cheung was pleased with the boys’ performance. Corey Cheung scored twice, while Moises Guiragossian and Sean Irwin each scored once. Scott Smith had a great interception. Nevada Miller was outstanding on defense and pulled a lot of flags behind their line of scrimmage. Quarterback Jake Arellano had a great game leading the gladiators and pulled two flags while playing middle linebacker on defense.  Andrew Ortiz played outstanding and defensive line and knocked the ball out of the Spartan quarterback’s hands as the quarterback attempted to hand the ball off to his running back

Gremlins

La Canada 46, Huntington Park Spartans 0

Opening day for the La Canada Gladiators could not have started on a better note with a 46-0 victory over the Huntington Park Spartans on Saturday morning at La Canada High School.

The Gladiators dominated the first quarter with a defensive line lead by Jonah Cisneros, Jake Fitzgerald, Charlie Stewart, CJ Corlett, Brandon Shepherd, Max Saucedo, Jake Okland, Kevin Gomez, Kane Austin, Victor Guiragossian and Jared Bringas.

Gladiator’s defense had a block punt by Jake Fitzgerald, 5 sacks by Jonah Cisneros and Matthew Watson, and 2 interceptions by Daylon Beasley and Laelan Wright, all coming in the first half. Matthew Watson led the linebacker crew of Luca Cuneo, Daylon Beasley, P.J. Weinmann, Chris Marfisi with a dominating performance.

On the offensive side, the Gladiators could not be stopped. The line of scrimmage was dominated by the line lead by C.J. Corlett, William Rappard, Dexter Matthews, Mathan Wendt, Jake Okland, David Garland, Gavin Moehring, Jake Fitzgerald, and Brandon Shepherd and wide receiver core of Mycah Pasten, Brooklyn Pasten, Joseph De La Cruz and Daniel De La Cruz. Daylon Beasley, Chris Marfisi and Andrew Sharman scored on runs of 25 yards or more.

The Gladiators put the game out of reach with 2 interceptions by Laelan Wright who returned one for a touchdown late in the 4^th quarter.

The La Canada Gremlins will pay a visit to the undefeated Covina Vikings at Covina High School this Sunday, September 29^th at 9:00 a.m.

Jr. Pee Wee

La Canada 40 Huntington Park Spartans 0

The La Canada Gladiator Junior Pee Wee team kicked off its 2013 season at La Canada High School Saturday morning with a solid effort over a game Huntington Park squad, 40-0. The effort was led by Chase Center, Colby Rees and Marcus Powe, who each scored two touchdowns. The Gladiators starting offensive line of Adam Griffin, Joseph Mecit, Efrem Rivera, Luc Campanella and Kilian Trulik consistently opened gaping holes for the Gladiator backs.

Center opened the Gladiator scoring with great runs of 39 and 11 yards on the Gladiators’ first two possessions.  Center also added both extra points, giving the Gladiators a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Gladiators’ offensive exhibition continued in the second quarter with a three-yard pass from Center to Rees for a score, and a thrilling 50-yard end around by Marcus Powe for another touchdown. Powe’s score was triggered with a big block by Noah Langford.

On defense the Gladiators kept the Spartan attack at bay.  The defense did not allow the Spartans a first down the entire half and also blocked a punt. First half stand-outs on defense were Dylan Luper, Julian Kanach, Talent Finn, Lucas Ponce, Louie Del La Cruz, and Joseph Franco. The halftime score was 27-0.

Following a stunning 55-yard punt return by Aaron Garcia, Rees opened the third quarter scoring with his second touchdown, a 15-yard run. The strong offensive and defensive showing continued in the second half with spirited two-way performances by Jordan Leblanc, Christan Irianto, Anton Verheyen, Nathan Martinez, Jacob Martinez and Francisco Vazquez, and tough running from Pierce Clarkson. The Gladiators capped off their 34-0 third quarter lead with another long touchdown run by Powe, which featured excellent blocking from the entire team.

The Gladiator Junior Pee Wee team will now travel to Bell Gardens on Saturday, September 28^th, to take on the Lancers.

Pee Wee

La Canada 34 Huntington Park 7

The Gladiator Pee Wee squad kicked-off the 3013 season with a convincing 34-7 win over the visiting Huntington Park Spartans this past Saturday at La Canada High School.

The first big play of the game was turned in by Brendan Pernecky, who ruched for a 20 yards behind the offensive line of , Austin Heberger, Joey Brunner, and Johnny Vasily. The 1st quarter had one touchdown scored by Thomas McConnell.  Kade Wentz unleashed his rocket arm & threw for more than 80 yards with two more touchdown passes.  Kevin Parada also ran all day & capped off the win with an interception aided by a great play by Clayton Byer knocking the opposing quarterback off-stride.  Byer also had a sack and 3 solo tackles. Carter Link registered the first tackle for loss of the season.

The defensive backfield consisting of Hunter Cuneo, Nicholas Abdalian, Adam Scannell, Devin Matthews & Sam Kunz held the Spartan passing game to no scores.  The defense as a whole, Valentin Nunez, Matthew Buntich, Andres Ramirez, Shane Johnson, Milad Lashgari, Ciaran Pierce, Patrick Mohr and Patrick Faulkner held the Spartans to a single touchdown late in the first half.  Jackson Wendling caught a scoring pass from Wentz and had a touchdown saving tackle in the first half.

In the second half the offensive line took over again with Triston Kekahuna at center, Chuck Meyer & Anthony Lozano at Tackle and Gilbert de Cardenas at Guard.  The defense lead by Steven Arrellano, who blew up the offensive line on almost every play shut the Spartans out.  But the play of the game was turned in by Jacob Buntich who not only had a TD reception and many plays on defense but also had the crack back block that took out 2 defenders & freed Pernecky for 1 of his 2 TDs on the day.

Next week, the Pee Wees team travels to Bell Gardens to take on the undefeated Lancers at 1:00 p.m.

Jr. Midgets

La Canada 48 Huntington Park Spartans 6

For the first game of the 2013 Season the LC Junior Midget Gladiators soundly raced past the Huntington Park Spartans 47-6 Saturday afternoon at La Canada High School.  With Elijah Washington leading the way with 13 carries from scrimmage for 101 yards, 4 pass receptions for 78 yards and 2 touchdowns. Quarterback Erik Zimmerman had 1 touchdown and 5 pass completions. Other ball carriers were Gregory Dulcich (1 touchdown), Taylor McCubbin, Clayton Esparza (1 touchdown) and Michael Torres (1 touchdown). Chris Wood preformed kickoff duties and 6 extra point-after kicks. Davy Stone made his debut as quarterback and helped to push La Canada down the field. Offensive supporters included Jason Watson, Daniel Cho, Chris Simonian, center Marcelino Martinez, Mitchell Espinosa, Teddy Ibarra, Brandon Torres, Jack Stellwagen, Emmett Pernecky and Derek Albanese.

The Spartans offense was held to low yardage by the Gladiator defense squad led by Elijah Washington and Evan Estrada. Carson Okland, Artis Candler, Gregory Dulcich, Tyler Shakibai, Chris Wood, Braeden Bentzen, Will Stewart, Ian Goodstein and Michael Torres. Gregory Dulcich intercepted the Spartans passer and ran it back 32 yds for a touchdown. Kai Aguila also intercepted a Spartan pass. Huntington Park was held to less than 100 yards and 1 touchdown by this impressive crew.

La Canada’s next opponent will be the Temple City Rams next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. at Temple City High School.

Midget

La Canada 20 Huntington Park 6

Saturday marked the official first game of the season for the La Canada Gladiators, and the Midget division crowned a day dominated by wins with a 20-6 victory over the Huntington Park Spartans.

The Spartans kicked the game off, and devoted much of the first quarter attempting to cope with the Gladiators’ defensive line. The Gladiator defense was eager to jump into the fray with Thomas Ary, Riley Center, Charlie Johnson, and David McAndrews standing as formidable obstacles against the initial offensive pushes. Football newcomers Jacob Erdmeir and Rowan Seiter took their first-game positions in the offensive line-up, to assist Alfonso Castillo, Bobby Gazmarian, and Austin Urbach with keeping the the ball moving into Spartan territory, ending at the 18-yard line at the end of the quarter.

After a scoreless first quarter the Gladiators drew first blood following a 32-yard carry byCastillo.  Although they missed the conversion, the Gladiators took a 6-0 halftime lead.

At the beginning o the third quarter, after the Spartans had turned the ball over to the Gladiators, Gazmarian ran it in from the 20 yard line for La Canada’s second touchdown of the game behind the blocking of Herman Sebastian, Ary, Zachery  Kejmar, Riley Center, Andre Garcia Rafferty Stenwall, Louie Pintado and Austin Urbach. This time, the Gladiators converted the 2-point conversion and were up 14-0.   Toward the end of the third quarter, Urbach scored his first career touchdown, and the third touchdown for La Canada giving La Canada a commanding 20-0 lead going into the final quarter.

For most of the game, the Gladiator defense held the plucky Spartans in check, by mid-way through the final period a Spartan wide receiver made a terrific catch and raced into the end zone cutting the lead to 20-6.  By the last two minutes of the quarter, a fierce battle raged between the Spartan offense and the determined tackling of Drake Barron, Kejmar, Brian Byrne and Castillo. A Gladiator kick, blocked by the Spartans at just under a minute and a half to go in the game brought the ball dangerously close to La Canada’s end zone at the Spartan’s first down. However, with only two seconds left, Barron took down the Spartan Quarterback, ending any hopes of a second touchdown for Huntington Park.

Following their victory, a visibly proud Head Coach Dean Richardson spoke glowingly of the La Canada team. Acknowledging that some of the fumbles may have been preventable, and that first-quarter turnovers cost them additional points, he praised both the defensive and offensive lines for their sharp performance and enthusiastic efforts throughout the game.

Next up for the Gladiators are the Bell Gardens’ Lancers who will host the Gladiators next Saturday, September 28^th at 3:00 p.m. in Bell Gardens.

Please call (818) 248-1800 if you have any questions.

Thanks

Kevin Lacey