JR. GREMLIN FLAG

La Cañada Gladiators v. Bell Gardens Lancers

(Teams do not keep score)

The La Cañada Gladiators Jr. Gremlins visited the Bell Gardens Lancers at Bell Gardens High School on Saturday Oct. 15.

Bell Gardens struggled in their first series due to serious defensive play by the Gladiators and Joseph Padilla. Padilla had three straight flag pulls on the first defensive series alone, two for a yardage loss and the other for a short gain. On the ensuing defensive series in the first quarter by the Gladiators, Bell Gardens began to have trouble with the center quarterback snap exchange – two dead balls that stifled their drive – signaling problems in this area that the Lancers had throughout the game especially in the second quarter where it set a potentially promising drive to a bad start.

The Gladiators scored the first points of the game in the second quarter on a three-play, five-yard touchdown run by Matthew Merrill. La Cañada would follow also in the second quarter with another three-play drive capped with a 20-yard scoring pass from Liam Pasten to Angel Loza bringing the score to 14-0 at the half.

The third quarter brought some tremendous defensive play from La Cañada’s Cole Richardson. He almost intercepted two passes on the Lancers’ first drive of the second half, and he nearly intercepted a third on the Lancers’ third drive in the quarter. On the Lancers’ second drive, Richardson had a key flag pull that resulted in a loss of two yards, helping to seal off a defensive stop on a critical drive.

The Gladiators opened up a much larger lead in the third and fourth quarters with two consecutive three-play scoring drives with touchdown passes from Pasten to Christopher Spears and to Loza bringing the score to 28-0.

In the fourth quarter, Pasten called his own number for a 15-yard scoring run that would feature the teams trading touchdowns before the Gladiators punched in the final scores of the game. The Lancers got on the scoreboard with a long 40-yard pass for a touchdown following Pasten’s scoring run. La Cañada finished scoring with a run by Phoenix Vengo for four yards and a Gladiator touchdown.

Cornerback play from CJ Mattmann and from a combination of Sergio Rodriguez and Spears helped keep the Lancers passing game stifled throughout the game.

The offensive/defensive line including Padilla, Matthew Merrill, Wyatt Zinn, Maddox Vengco, Adrian Garcia, Timothy Runnels, Gunnar Herman, DeLuccia and Flores all contributed greatly to the team’s success.

The Gladiator Jr. Gremlins next game is against Azusa on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 8 a.m. at Azusa High School.

Gremlins

La Cañada 28, Bell Gardens Lancers 0

The La Cañada Gladiators Gremlin rolled to their fifth straight win over the host Bell Gardens Lancers on Saturday, Oct. 15 with a convincing score of 28-0. It was the Gladiators third shutout of the season and a dominating win that pitted the top two teams in the San Gabriel Valley’s Arroyo Division.

Bell Gardens received the opening kickoff but was stymied by La Cañada’s powerful defense, which held Bell Gardens to three yards in their first three plays. On fourth down a deep pass was intercepted by Gladiator cornerback Matthew Kurkdjian, who made a dazzling return of 62 yards for a touchdown. After a failed conversion attempt, Kurkdjian kicked the ball deep and pinned Bell Gardens on its own nine-yard line. The Gladiator defense, led by linebackers Jacob Lopez, Scottie Smith, David Mysza and Thomas Sorensen, defensive ends Jaiden Espadas and Luke Cullen, defensive tackles Noah Zarate and Ricky Guerrero, and defensive backs Kurkdjian, Jake Arellano, Zeke Alzaga and Mo Guiragossian, forced a three and out, with Bell Gardens punting to the La Cañada 47-yard line. La Cañada then drove down the field in four plays, the drive highlighted by a 41- yard reverse by Lopez to the Bell Gardens one-yard line. Fullback Arellano punched the ball in for La Cañada’s second score midway through the first quarter. Espadas successfully converted to put La Cañada up 14-0.

La Cañada kicked off and again held the Bell Gardens offense to a three and out. La Cañada’s offense took over on the Lancers’ 34-yard line and drove to the two-yard line, but could not score after a series of offensive penalties. Offensive linemen Sebastian Pascuzzo, Espadas, Cullen, Sorensen, Zarate, Guerrero, JJ Runnels, Ezekiel Rodriguez, Cayden Klein, Julian Vartanian, and Timmy O’Brien dominated the line of scrimmage the entire game, outgaining Bell Gardens on the ground 259 yards to 43. La Cañada scored its third touchdown of the half after Kurkdjian recovered a Lancers’ fumble at their 49-yard line. The Gladiators needed just two plays to score as first wingback Lopez ran for 30 yards, and then, on the next, play Guiragossian ran a reverse into the end zone from 19 yards out. The hard running of backs Lopez, Guiragossian, Arellano, David Mysza, Smith, Maddox Freeman, Jimmy Spears, William Low and Crowley Sullivan kept Bell Gardens on their heels the entire game. Espadas successfully converted to put La Cañada ahead 22-0 before the end of the second quarter.

Bell Gardens tried to mount a comeback in the second half, but could not dent La Cañada’s relentless defense. La Cañada held Bell Gardens normally potent offense to just one first down and 34 total yards the entire day. The defense was led by inside linebackers Lopez and Smith, who combined for five tackles, 12 assists and one forced fumble, defensive end Sorensen who had six tackles and one assist, and safety Guiragossian who had two tackles and one interception.

La Cañada put the game away in the fourth quarter when the Gladiator offense, skillfully directed by quarterback Mysza, made a methodical six-play drive on the ground. Fullback Smith ended the drive with a two-yard touchdown. The Gladiator offense simply overwhelmed the Bell Gardens younger defense behind its dominant offensive line with ten different players carrying the ball and three different backs scoring rushing touchdowns. La Cañada’s running attack was led by wingback Lopez who had 90 yards on five carries, quarterback Mysza (68 yards on eight carries) and Guiragossian (53 yards on four carries). The final score was 28-0.

The Gladiators next travel to Azusa on Sunday, Oct. 23 to face the Azusa Raiders in another Arroyo League game with playoff implications.

Jr. Pee Wee

La Cañada 14, Bell Gardens 6

On Saturday, Oct. 15 at Bell Gardens High School, the La Cañada Gladiators improved to 5-1 with a hard-fought victory over the Bell Gardens Lancers 14-6.  The Gladiators’ victory paces them in sole possession of first place in the Arroyo League with two games left in the regular season.

The Gladiators next travel to Azusa High School on Sunday, Oct. 23 to take on the Raiders at noon.

Pee Wee

La Cañada 26, Bell Gardens 0

On Saturday afternoon at Bell Gardens High School the La Cañada Gladiators Pee Wee team won its fifth straight game of the season 26-0 over the Bell Gardens Lancers. With the defeat of the Lancers, the Gladiators’ record is 6-1 and they are now in sole possession of first place in the Arroyo League with two games left in the season.

The offense showed its power running game as quarterback Alec Sanchez-Nigolian called the signals. The running game was very productive as James Warner and Victor Guiragossian ran the ball and the offensive line featuring Marcus Buenabenta, Tyler Sparks, William Broberg, and Sean Escobar controlled the line of scrimmage.

The Gladiator defense was strong again having only allowing a few scores this season. Colin Mathews Olson Matthias William Aivazian, Christopher Aivazian, Justin Webster, CJ Owens, Remi Valdez, Michael Bailian and Anthony Sanchez and, Jaden Keshishyan all contributed on a day when the defense set the tone for the entire game.

Next week the Gladiators will be at Azusa to play the Azusa Pee Wee team on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 3 p.m.

Jr. Midgets

La Cañada 38, La Puente Warriors 6

On Saturday, Oct. 15, the La Cañada Gladiators Jr Midget football team played the La Puente Warriors at Muir High School in Pasadena. After the Gladiators took a dominating 38-6 lead in the third quarter the contest came to an abrupt end when the Warriors walked off the field and forfeited the game.

The Gladiators dominated the game as they have outscored their opponents 243 to 12 through the first six games of the season. The Warriors showed signs of life in the first quarter when they intercepted a pass and returned it 82 yards for their only score of the game making the score 12-6, but that was their last glimmer of hope.

The game started with a failed La Puente attempt at an onside kick as the ball was recovered by an alert Jonah Cisneros. Quarterback Pierce Clarkson led La Cañada right down the field mixing an efficient passing attack with a strong ground game before Daylon Beasley scored on a 13-yard run, putting La Cañada up 6-0.

La Puente’s first drive stalled as the Gladiator defense, led by defensive tackle Jake Fitzgerald, pushed the Warriors back before punting on fourth down. The punt was short and caught by Fitzgerald. The Gladiators wasted no time as Clarkson connected with Markel Wallace on the first play for a 40-yard strike that increased the lead to 12-0.

Following another stalled La Puente drive, La Cañada was driving when a pass was intercepted and returned for the Warrior’s only score. Defensive highlights included Fitzgerald batting down a fourth down pass, and Sal Guerrero recovering a fumble.

From the start of the second quarter it was all La Cañada as Beasley and Wallace both added touchdowns. Sam Faulkner rotated in at quarterback with Clarkson, and the Gladiator offense never missed a beat.

Midway through the third quarter with the Gladiators up 31-6, Beasley went around the left end running through a would be tackler on a 35-yard touchdown run. As the defender was slow to get up and trailing 38-6, the La Puente coaches directed the Warriors to leave the field and forfeit the game. The final score was 38-6.

Next week’s game will be on Saturday on the road against West Covina at Cortez Park.

Midgets (played on Oct. 16)

La Cañada 52, Whittier Redskins 23

No report received.