1. GREMLIN FLAG

La Cañada Gladiators v. Charter Oak Chargers

(Teams do not keep score)

The La Cañada Gladiators Jr. Gremlins hosted the Charter Oak Chargers on Saturday, Oct. 28 at La Cañada High School. Charter Oak was relentless on offense with three touchdowns in the first half. By the time La Cañada got going in the second half with two touchdowns of their own, Charter Oak added another insurance touchdown to close out the game.

Charter Oak ran a zone read running attack, and quickly turned three offensive possessions into three running touchdowns. Though the team sprinkled in a few successful throws here and there, its running game bedazzled the Gladiator defenders en route to missed flag pulls on both sides of the field in the first half.

The Gladiator offense on the other hand sputtered in the first half, coming close on two possessions to scoring only to have the possession end with an interception turnover in each case.

The Gladiators made some adjustments at half time and came out with a strong offensive drive capped by a touchdown throw from Cole Richards to Christian (“CJ”) Mattmann. After the Gladiator defense made a stop and held the Chargers to a punt, the Gladiators again were able to put together a solid drive that culminated with a touchdown throw from Phoenix Vengco to Christopher Spears to bring La Cañada back into the game.

That was as close as the Gladiators would get, however, with the Chargers from Charter Oak adding in two more insurance touchdowns in the second half to pull away (both on the ground).

The Gladiators finished the game with two touchdowns (two throwing), and the Chargers scored five times, all on the ground.

The offensive/defensive line, including Dixon Womack, Laurence Kerkonian, Maddox Vengco, Henry Vartanian, Izaac Rodriguez, Leo Ortiz, and Maclean (“Mackie”) O’Brien, all contributed greatly to the team’s success.

The Gladiator Jr. Gremlins regular season came to a close with this game and has no further games.

Gremlins

La Cañada 0 – Charter Oak Chargers 0 (tie)

No Report Received

Jr. Pee Wee

La Cañada 6 – Charter Oak Chargers 15

The La Cañada Gladiators Junior Pee Wee team dropped their first game of the season to the Charter Oak Chargers on Saturday, Oct. 28 at La Cañada High School’s Spartan Stadium. As expected, the game was a defensive battle of undefeated teams who between them had notched nine shutouts in their combined 14 victories.

The Chargers received the opening kickoff and could go nowhere, losing yardage on each of their first three plays as the swarming Gladiator defense gave no quarter. Charter Oak punted from deep in its own territory on fourth down and was aided by a Gladiator penalty that forced La Cañada to start from its own 41-yard line. La Cañada’s offense had no better success, losing yardage on its possession and turning over the ball on downs when the fourth down pass attempt from Wyatt Becker to Michael Liggins was almost intercepted.

La Cañada’s defense again stopped the normally high scoring Charter Oak offense. As it has all season long, the defense was led by inside linebackers Nevada Miller and Scottie Smith. The Gladiator defense held Charter Oak to less than 100 yards of total offense for the game. Miller led the team in tackles with 10 on the day, four for loss. Defensive end David Mysza also had a stellar day on defense with eight tackles and two assists. Anchoring the Gladiators was strong play by its starting defensive line of Jaiden Espadas, Ricky Guerrero, Luke Cullen, Noah Zarate, Dominick Cozza, Mysza and Thomas Sorensen. Excellent support was provided by backup defensive linemen Sebastian Pascuzzo, David O’Connor, Sedrik Jimenez, Timmy O’Brien, Michael Shahinian, David Galaviz, Teddy Gocke, and Joe Martinez, who had a fumble recovery later in the game.

Neither team was able to score in the first quarter as punishing defensive play stymied both offenses. Gladiator defensive backs Michael Liggins, Jake Arellano, Levi Griffin, Zeke Alzaga, Wyatt Becker, Will Nyhan, and Teddy Gocke provided solid support against the run, and held the Charter Oaks’ air attack to three completions all day long.

The Gladiators were the first to get on the scoreboard in the second quarter after Cozza kicked a monster 48-yard punt that pinned the Chargers deep in their own red zone and the Gladiator defense forced a three and out. La Cañada’s “Trojan” offense took over on the Charger 38-yard line and, after a short run by fullback Jacob Lopez, quarterback Wyatt Becker threw a perfect 37-yard missile to wideout Michael Liggins who split three defenders and ran into the end zone. Though the extra point of Jaiden Espadas was just right of the goalpost, the Gladiators felt relieved to take a 6-0 lead into halftime.

The Chargers reached into their bag of tricks to start the second half and recovered an onside kickoff at the Gladiator 43-yard line. Charter Oak capitalized quickly, scoring on a 17-yard jet sweep on their fourth play of the drive. The Chargers kicked a two-point conversion to pull ahead 8-6.

La Cañada tried twice to regain the lead in the third quarter, but failed on fourth and 11 from midfield. Charter Oak took over on downs and scored on a well-executed play action pass to solidify their lead at 15-6 as time ran out in the third quarter. The Gladiators fought bravely for the remainder of the game, but could not score on the tough Charger defense. La Cañada’s deepest threat ended at the Charger 20-yard line.

In spite of the loss, La Cañada enters the playoffs seeded second in the eight-team Junior Pee Wee tournament and will play the Covina Vikings in a quarterfinal playoff game at Charter Oak High School on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 10:30 a.m.

Pee Wee

La Cañada 1 – Charter Oak Chargers 0 (forfeit)

No report received.

Jr. Midgets

La Cañada 38 – Charter Oak Chargers 6

No report received.