La Cañada Gladiators

This week the Gladiators visited Lincoln Heights, Charter Oak, and Alhambra.

JR. GREMLIN FLAG
(Teams do not keep Score)

The Jr. Gremlins were all over the field!  Touchdowns were scored by Corey Cheung,  Julian Alday, Andrew Sibbrel, Wyatt Becker, Moises Guiragossian, and Shwan Irwin.

Reid Matthews played center and snapped like a champ, while his brother Aaron Mathews played safety and ran his legs off making plays. Jackson Radabaugh had two great runs a to help set up one of the Gladiators’ six touchdowns. Julian Alday had a great 15 yard touchdown run, while Andrew Sibbrel had a great cut back for a score, and almost had an interception.  Alec Heberger was great on both sides of the ball, having his first offensive carry of the season while pulling several flags.

Next up for the Gladiators are the Arcadia Indians next Sunday morning at La Canada High School.

Gremlins
La Cañada 38,  Alhambra Thunderbirds 0

No Article Received

Jr. Pee Wee
La Cañada 39,  Alhambra Thunderbirds 0

The Gladiators stormed into Mark Keppel High School on Saturday morning and crushed the Alhambra Thunderbirds 39–0.  Their record is now even at 2-2.

The Gladiators scored a touchdown on the game’s opening possession, then recovering an onside kick, then driving for a second score.  At the end of the first quarter, the Gladiators were ahead 13-0 and never looked back.

The starting offensive line consistently pushed back the Thunderbirds, with particularly strong blocking from Anton Verheyen, Joseph Mecit, and Luc Campanella.  On many plays, the starting backfield ran untouched into the Alhambra secondary.  The receiving corps of Jacob Martinez, Christan Irianto, Noah Langford and Jordan LaBlanc were open all day, while contributing to the ground attack with downfield blocking.

Chase Center followed up his first quarter 64-yard touchdown with a 13-yard scoring dash off right tackle to start off the second quarter.  A few minutes later Colby Rees followed up his 15-yard first quarter touchdown reception with a 10-yard ramble off left tackle.

Meanwhile, the Gladiators brought a smothering defense to keep the Thunderbirds in check all day. First half defensive highlights included a lightning-quick Joseph Franco sneaking inside and tripping up a Thunderbird in the backfield.  Other defensive standouts included Adam Griffin clogging up the middle and making or helping out on several negative yardage plays, Louie De La Cruz breaking up a long pass, and Dylan Luper charging strong off the right end, disrupting play after play.  The Gladiators were hitting on all cylinders and leading 26-0 at halftime.

Nathan Martinez and Aaron Garcia mixed it up on gang tackles as the third quarter opened with another Thunderbird three and out. The offensive line continued to open up big holes, leading to Center’s third score, a 43 yard scamper.

The Gladiators shifted to cruise control in the fourth quarter with Pierce Clarkson cruising up the middle for a 20 yard run and Marcus Powe cruising to the left for a 13 yard touchdown. The game ended with Talent Finn shedding two blockers and sacking the Thunderbird quarterback.

The Gladiators now head into a bye week with a 2-2 record, and will next play at Claremont on October 27th.

Pee Wee
Gladiators 32, Charter Oak Chargers 0

Peewee Gladiators had another great win on Sunday vs the Charter Oak Chargers 32-0.  The Pee Wees are now 3-1 on the season.

Kevin Parada started the TD feast off on the opening drive with 34 yard blast off the left side.  The blocking of Devin Matthews, Pappy Faulkner, Clayton Byer, Austin Heberger, Andres Ramirez, Triston Kekahuna, Ciran Pierce and Johnny Vasily opened up holes all day.  Thomas McConnell finished the game with 73 yards rushing & kicked an extra point under extreme pressure. The defense was also great on this day.  On the first series, Steven Arrellano recovered a fumble to set up a Brendan Pernecky TD.  Carter Link, Anthony Lozano, Michael Ruf, Chuck Meyer and Matthew Buntich all had a tackle for loss.  Valentin Nunez, Gilbert de Cardenes, Shane Johnson, and Joey Brunner also made timely stops to shut the Chargers out.  Scoring their first TDs of the season were Adam Scannell & Hunter Cuneo.  Both Samuel Kunz and Jackson Wendling had TD saving tackles.  The play of the game was a 40 yard bomb from Kade Wentz to Jacob Buntich for a touch down in the 2nd quarter.

Jr. Midgets
La Cañada 50,  Alhambra 45

Strong will, determination and hanging in to the very end won the Gladiators a victory over the Alhambra Thunderbirds 50 to 45 at Mark Keppel High School field in Alhambra on Saturday October 12, 2013. The Gladiators have improved to 2-2.\

The game began with the Thunderbirds scoring 3 unanswered touchdowns. With approximately one minute left in the first half the Junior Midget Gladiators scored a touchdown 23 yard pass from Quarterback Erik Zimmerman to Elijah Washington. Backing up the offensive strikes were Gregory Dulcich, Kai Aguila, Marcelino Martinez, Carson Okland, Jason Watson, Mitchell Espinosa, Michael Torres, Daniel Cho, Chris Simonian, Teddy Ibarra, Clayton Esparza, Brandon Torres, Emmett Pernecky, Tyler Shakibai and Taylor McCubbin.  At the half, Alhambra was up 22-6.

During halftime the Gladiators regrouped and came out with a lot of energy and scored in the first 5 minutes of the second half by another pass from Zimmerman to Running back Washington. From that point forward the two teams went back and forth and the score was La Canada 30, Alhambra 29 in the middle of the fourth quarter.

In the last 5 minutes of the fourth quarter the Gladiators caught fire and scored 3 more times and the Thunderbirds only 2 times for a final score of La Canada 50 and Alhambra 45 showing the strength and fortitude of the La Canada squad.

Overall the Gladiators were to overcome Alhambra on the legs and arm of Quarterback Zimmerman and others. The Gladiator touchdowns were made possible by strong blocking, passing and running on offense and good tackling on defense. The defensive crew included Evan Estrada, Ian Goodstein, Artis Candler, Davy Stone, Braeden Bentzen and Will Stewart. Lending Special Team efforts were Jack Stellwagen and Derek Albanese; several point-after runs by Michael Torres and point-after kicks by Chris Wood.

Next up for the Gladiators are the always tough Pasadena Panthers at Muir High School on Saturday in Pasadena.

 Midgets
La Cañada 32, Lincoln Heights 8

No report received.