Below are scores for the Oct. 3 contests of the La Cañada Gladiators. The next games will take place on Saturday, Oct. 9 at Duarte High School, 1565 Central Ave. in Duarte.

Jr. Gremlin – Cardinal
(Teams Do Not Keep Official Score)
No report received

Jr. Gremlin – Gold
(Teams Do Not Keep Official Score)

The La Canada Jr. Gremlin-Gold Flag Football Team took on the Arcadia Indians Flag Football Team at La Canada High School in La Canada on Sunday, October 3, 2010, at La Canada High School.

Playing for the La Canada Jr. Gremlin Gold Team were players Sebastian Aviles-Maya, Khalil Bush, Jacob Hurtado, Brady Kline, Mike Okland, Christopher “CJ” Corlett, Nathan Lee, Jake Okland, Matthew Banich, Dexter Mathews, Charlie Stewart, Jordan Hershman, Dylan Luper, Bennett Oakes, Andrew Ortiz, Angel Martin, Chris Nava, and Valentine Nunez.

During the third game of the 2010 season, the weather was sunny and in the mid seventies.  Under the bright blue skies, Bennett Oakes led the team as the quarterback.  During the third quarter Bennett Oakes completed a pass to Valentine Nunez, for a gain of ten yards.  Despite outstanding efforts by the team, the Gladiators were unable to score.

A highlight of the game was the defensive efforts of all-around player Bennett Oakes.  During the first quarter Oakes pulled an Arcadia flag, intercepted the ball from Arcadia for a ten yard run, and blocked an Arcadia pass.  Later in the fourth quarter, the La Canada crowd went wild when quick footed Gladiator Nathan Lee brilliantly positioned himself to intercept a twenty yard Arcadia pass.

Another highlight of the Gladiator defense continues to be the sheer determination of Dylan Luper, who pulled five flags during the game, Angel Martin also contributed on defense with a great flag pull of his own.  Another highlight of the defense was the outstanding effort of versatile player Valentine Nunez who pulled two flags from Arcadia.  Gladiator Andrew Ortiz, played his defensive position with great determination.

It was a great effort by both the Arcadia Indians and La Canada Gladiators

Next up for the Gladiators are the Duarte Falcons, on Saturday Oct. 9 at Duarte High School.

Gremlins
Final Score: La Canada: 36 Arcadia: 0

With a 29 point first half the Gremlin Gladiators beat the Arcadia Indians by a final score of 36-0 on Sunday morning at La Canada High School. The Gladiator record is now 1-2.

The offense was led by a number of Gladiator backs runners including Mitchell Espinosa who carried 7 times for 15 yards and one score; Thomas McConnell who also had 7 carries for 52 yards and a conversion run; Elijah Washington had 9 carries for 118 yards and two touchdowns; Adam Crawford had 8 carries for 66 yards and one touchdown, and Charlie Rocca with five carriers for 32 yards. Other offensive players were Miles Haxton, Jacob Buntich, Carson Okland, Blake Northrop, Will Stewart, Chuck Meyer, Gunnar Mills, Jack Rothgeb, Alex Hartwick, Zach Howorth and Clayton Esparza.

With Tanner Gish as quarterback there was also a touchdown scored by a 15 yard pass to Washington, giving Washington three scores for the game. The Gladiator offensive juggernaut scored 22 points in the first quarter to put the game on ice. The Gremlins defense helped the offense by recovering 2 fumbles from the Indians by Evan Estrada and Chris Wood.

There was a season first when Chris Wood scored two separate extra point kicks after touchdowns. In youth football Gremlin level the kicking of extra points taken a high degree of skill and are therefore awarded 2 points each.  It is rare for any Gremlin team to kick an extra point.

The Gremlins defense held the Arcadia Indians to 61 yards total offense.  Defensive standouts included Chuck Meyer, Jake George, Dylan McGoldrick, Austin Heberger, Ronald Shin, Mitchell Frus, Devin Mathews, Emmet Hurley, Aaron Wilson, Tyler Shakibai, Ian Harding and Ian Goodstein.

The Gladiators travel to Duarte High School next Saturday to take on the always tough Duarte Hawks.

Jr. Pee Wee
Final Score: La Canada: 25 Arcadia: 0

The Gladiator Jr. Pee Wee team improved its season record to 2-1 with a balanced 25-0 win over the Arcadia Indians.  Every aspect of the team contributed to an impressive second straight shut-out, under beautiful blue skies and a perfect fall day at La Canada High School on Sunday morning.

The Indians received the opening kick-off and started from their own 44 yard-line, facing the daunting Gladiator front four of Julian Martinez, Theo Chamberlain, Jules Buenabenta and Ethan DeMoulin, linebackers Eli Chavez, Will McConnell, Julian Martinez and Jackson Totleben, and defensive backs Maxx Moreno, Andrew Van Ginkel and Bobby Gazmarian.  In the Indians’ opening drive, Buenabenta and Totleben sacked the Indian quarterback for successive 4-yard losses, and a stop by Chavez and McConnell on 4^th and 16 led to the Gladiators taking over on downs at the Indian 38.

Chavez and Moreno ripped off 6-yard runs, and soon the Gladiators had 1^st and goal from the 9-yard line.  Quarterback Brian Erickson scrambled for 5, and Chavez followed with a 4-yard scoring run, with McConnell converting on the conversion with a strong run off-tackle right with key blocks from Michael Chan and Conrad Oakes to put the Gladiators up 7-0.

The Gladiator defense held strong the next Indian possession, with Van Ginkel breaking up the fourth down pass play, and the first quarter ended with the Gladiators up 7-0.

The Gladiators struck quickly in the second quarter behind strong line play from Peter Simmeth, Jordan Kruglov, Drake Barron, Kyle Ramirez and Lukas Brandt, starting from the Indian 44 yard line.  After two strong runs by McConnell and Chavez, Chavez caught a perfect screen pass from Erickson and evaded several tacklers for a 30-yard score.  The conversion attempt failed, but the Gladiators led 13-0.

On the ensuing Indian drive, Chan recovered a fumble, but the Gladiator drive stalled.  The Gladiators kept up the defensive pressure from Christopher Villalobos, Connor McGoldrick, Justin Sabourin, and Ellis Rothrock.  Totleben sacked the Indian quarterback for a loss of 7 yards, and Gazmarian intercepted the next Indian pass at the Gladiator 43-yard line.  Erickson threw to Gazmarian for quick gain of 10, despite increasing pressure from the Indian defense.  Chavez’s running and Erickson’s scrambling accounted for 2 first downs, then Erickson hit Chavez with another screen for a gain of 23, for first and goal from the Indian 6 yard line.  Erickson was intercepted at the goal line, but he made a great open field tackle to save the Indian TD as the first half ended – Gladiators 13, Indians 0.

The Gladiator centers DeMoulin, Chan and Oakes had all they could handle with the relentless Indian blitzing, but the line made adjustments.  The Gladiators started the third quarter from their own 2-yard line following a great Indian kick-off.  Erickson hit Martinez for an 18-yard gain, and Chavez followed blocks from Simmeth, Chan and Oakes to break free for a 40-yard gain, but the drive stalled when a Gladiator fumble gave the Indians the ball at their own 12-yard line.  The Indians then put together their best drive of the day, where several QB scrambles and a screen pass got them to their 40 yard line.  DeMoulin broke though on the second down pass play, sacked the Indian quarterback, stripped the ball and recovered the fumble on the Indian 31-yard line.

Erickson passed to McConnell for a 16 yard gain, and two plays later McConnell ran it in 14 yards for the score.  After the failed conversion attempt, the Gladiators led 19-0.

The next Indian drive moved the ball to the Gladiator 37-yard line, but the defense stiffened, as Barron and Rothrock each recorded successive sacks, and McConnell continued his fine defensive day, stuffing a fourth-and-two to force the turn-over on downs.

Starting from their own 30, Erickson scrambled for 30 yards to the Indian 40, Chavez had a couple of runs, and Erickson hit tightend Totleben with a beautiful 30-yard scoring pass.  The conversion failed, but Gladiators led 25-0 with just under 4 minutes to play.

The Indians were unable to move the ball, and the Gladiator offense ran out the clock to preserve their second consecutive shut-out, 25-0.

The Jr. Pee Wee Gladiators take on the Duarte Hawks on Saturday, October 9th at 11am at Duarte High School.

Pee Wee
La Canada 43 Arcadia 6

In their first home game of the season, the Gladiator Pee Wees shut out the Temple City Rams 38-0 at La Canada High School on Sunday.  The Pee Wees are now 2-0.

In the first series of the first quarter the Gladiator Defense made their presence known as Mario Martinez forced a fumble and picked up the ball to run for a 45-yard touchdown. Daivon Grayson kicked in the 2 point PAT to bring the game to 8-0. The Gladiator Defense stopped Temple City’s offense again in their next possession with a sack and forced fumble by Martin Guerrero that was recovered by Tyler Hill.  On its next offensive possession, Grayson ran for a 60-yard touchdown, and brought the score to 16-0 after a two point conversion by Martinez.  By the end of the 2nd Quarter, the Gladiators had brought the score to 30-0.  The Temple City offense was stopped by excellent interior line play, with sacks by David Vardinian and Michael Doud. Temple City’s total offense was -5 yards, with no first downs.

With the time clock running in the second half, Gladiators continued to move the ball with hard running by Thomas Stea, Brandon Sharman, and Dominic Jones under the leadership of quarterback Davind Yoon.  Gladiator Defense stayed strong with Temple City poised to score on a 40-yard pass that Mario Martinez tackled at the 1-yard line, forcing a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Gladiator cornerback Dominic Jones. This brought the Gladiators to their own 20-yard line, where quarterback Brett Gangi runs for a 80-yard touchdown, with strong support from the Gladiator Offensive linemen and backfield. Daivon Grayson scored the final touchdown and 2 point PAT conversion to give the Gladiators their final score of 38-0.

Jr. Midget
La Canada 27 Arcadia 0

No report received

Midget
La Canada 39  Lincoln Heights Tigers 20

On Sunday night at La Canada High School the La Canada Midgets improved to 3-0 on the season with a dominating performance against the visiting Lincoln Heights Tigers.

Running back Will Lombardo had an outstanding game, churning out huge yardage on the ground, and scoring 4 rushing touchdowns.  La Canada’s two other scores came on touchdown passes from quarterback Jeremiah Martin, who has improved to 6 touchdown passes and no interceptions for the season. Martin hit wide receiver Chip Crowley for a 30-yard score and running back Connor Van Ginkel with a 13-yard strike.  Martin also had a 2 point conversion pass to tightend Todd Murray.  Jonathan Sotoodeh had a noteworthy game on both the offensive and defensive lines, including two quarterback sacks.

La Canada scored first with a 20-yard run up the middle by Lombardo to make the score 6-0.  The Tiger offense scored on their next possession to tie the game 6-6 at the end of the first quarter.  The second quarter saw the Gladiators score twice.  First, Martin found Crowley open for a 30-yard scoring pass, and Lombardo scored on a 20-yard run to put the Gladiators up 18-6.  A late score by the Tigers narrowed the Gladiator lead to 18-14 at halftime.

The third quarter opened with a nice kickoff return by Gladiator Wes Walker.  After a long run by Van Ginkel, Lombardo followed with a 25-yard touchdown putting the Gladiators up 24-14.  On their first offensive play of the half, Lincoln Heights responded with a beautiful quarterback scramble for a score, and converted the two-point conversion to narrow the Gladiator lead to 24-22.  On their next series, the Tigers were unable to stop Lombardo who scored again from 7-yards.  The two-point conversion pass from Martin to Murray made the score 32-20 at the end of the third quarter.

The Gladiators final score came in the final quarter with a touchdown pass from Martin to Van Ginkel, followed by a successful conversion kick by Crowley. Lombardo capped off the Gladiator victory with an interception to end the game.

The offensive/defensive line of Andrew Kaminski, Jacob Reyes, Tanner Costi, Christian Woodward, Thomas Rhee, Nicholas Peters, James Doyle, Justin Curran, Joseph Bolin, Armando Alberto and Ta’Von Duker are to be commended for their tough-nosed play on both sides of the ball.  Wide receivers and defensive backs Scotty Platisa, Kevin Lentz, Jeronimo Rodriguez, Andrew Cruz, Kevin Aguilar, Jonathan Jun and Brett Klein also played hard for the entire game.

The Gladiator Midgets next game is a showdown against the undefeated Duarte Hawks at Duarte High School next Saturday, October 9 at 5 pm.

Contributed by Kevin Lacey

  Crescenta, Gladiators