Jr. Pee Wee

La Canada Gladiators v. Covina Vikings

Final Score: La Canada 13 Covina 0

The La Canada Gladiators advanced to the Championship round of playoffs with a tough 13-0 victory over the Covina Vikings Sunday morning at Walnut High School.  The Gladiators will move on to the championship game to face Pasadena this Sunday in Duarte.

The Gladiators opening drive produced several first downs, but then stalled inside the Covina 20 yard line as the Gladiators were unable to convert on fourth down.   Covina converted on one first down and then was forced to punt to close out the first quarter.

La Canada’s second possession resulted in a Covina interception inside Gladiator territory.  The Gladiator defense, however, was immovable all day and was up to the challenge. Linebacker Christopher Marfisi was key on two plays and a quarterback sack by Jonah Cisneros forced Covina to punt.  The Gladiators moved the ball from their own 15 all the way down to Covina’s 30 yard line, but the clock ran out leaving the half to end in a scoreless tie.

At the start of the second half Covina’s offense sputtered and they were once again forced to punt.  A bad snap allowed Gladiator Jake Fitzgerald and Matthew Watson to tackle the Covina punter at the Covina 30 yard line.  Unfortunately, the Gladiators were unable to convert as a fumble allowed Covina to get the ball back on their own 12 yard line.  Once again unable to move the ball, Covina was forced to punt.  The Gladiators took over on the Covina 40 yard line and this time they delivered.   A pair of great runs by Daylon Beasley gave the Gladiators the ball inside Covina’s ten yard line.  Beasley scored from six yards out, ending the scoreless tie and giving the Gladiators a 7 -0 lead, late into the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter Covina made their second and final first down of the game, but was unable to move the ball thereafter.  On the Gladiators’ next possession Covina fumbled allowing Covina one last attempt to tie the score.  It was not to be as La Canada’s Jake Fitzgerald made a stop on fourth down giving the Gladiators the ball back inside Covina territory.  On the very next play, Daylon Beasley scored a touchdown from 25 yards out to put the game away in making the final margin 13-0 in favor of the Gladiators.

This is the Gladiators second straight trip to the Championship game, as last year’s team defeated Glendale to win the Gremlin division.

Midgets

La Canada Gladiators vs. Glendora Tartans – Semi Final Playoff

Final Score: La Canada 40 Glendora 14

On Sunday afternoon at Walnut High School, the La Canada Midget team earned a berth in the Championship Game with a solid 40-14 victory over the Glendora Tartans.

The first quarter began slowly, with both defenses controlling the game. In fact, the Gladiator defense played well the entire game, bending but never breaking and allowing the Tartans only two scores late in the second half when the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt. The line of Ricardo Pena, Lawrence Palmer, Daniel Cho, Ruben Munoz, Jacob Erdmier, and Charlie Daves stifled the Tartan running game and had four quarterback sacks on the day. Linebackers and defensive backs Artis Candler, Okland, Dyllan Wright, Beau Hobbie, Jahlique Stephens, Jason Watson, Will Stewart, and Da’Vion Rutherford blanketed the normally prolific Tartan receivers.

In the second quarter, the Gladiator scoring machine was ignited by Jahlique Stephens who took a pitch from quarterback Carson Okland and ran 80 yards for the first score of the game.  Okland was stopped short of the goal line on the conversion, but the Gladiators were up 6-0.  On defense, a pair of sacks by James Smith and Ricardo Pena stopped Glendora’s two drives in the second quarter.  With only a few seconds remaining before halftime, Okland connected with Beau Hobbie for an 82 yard scoring pass.  The conversion run by Stephens unsuccessful, and the teams entered halftime with the Gladiators up 12-0.

In the third quarter, the Gladiator offense began to move with consistency as the blovking of Jack Stellwagen, Daniel Cho, Carson Giles, Louis Menacho, and Ruben Munoz opened gaping holes for Stephens, Hobbie, Artis Candler, and quarterback Tyron Clark who played the second half. Stephens scored again on a 24 yard run for the third Gladiator score of the day and the conversion by Clark was successful making the score 20-8 Gladiators.

On defense, apart from two drives late in the game, the Gladiators dominated play. Cho made many hard hits on defense, and also had a sack on the Glendora quarterback to stop the tough Glendora offense.  Clark engineered a drive to the Tartan 15 yard line and then took the ball the last 15 yards himself for the Gladiators fourth score.  The conversion attempt from Clark to Da’Vion Rutherford was not successful, putting the Gladiators up 26-8 midway through the fourth quarter. Glendora then scored their second touchdown of the game to cut the score to 28-14, but the Gladiators responded with another score when Stephens sprinted 56 yards to the end zone.  The conversion was no good, but the Gladiators were up 32-14.  Late in the fourth quarter after the Tartans were stopped at th Gladiator 45 yard line, Stephens followed the blocking of the left side of his line with a key block from wide receiver Michael Leyva for a 55 yard score.  The conversion by Cho was successful PAT was a hard hitting run by Daniel Cho who rammed his way into the end zone for the 2 point conversion making the score 40-14.  Stephens then picked off a Glendora pass to end the final Glendora drive and to end the game.

Next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. the Gladiators will face the West Covina Bruins in the Conference Championship game at West Covina High School.

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

Thanks

Kevin Lacey