Baldwin Park's Mario Rodriguez
By Johnathan Saller
(San Dimas) –Mario Rodriguez recovered a fumble and took it 25-yards to paydirt, stunning the Saints 19-14 at San Dimas Stadium Friday night. Rodriguez, going both ways, also threw for a touchdown leading his team to a huge victory in the league game.
“You know you can call the play but you can’t coach it up to have him outrun three guys and make a guy miss to get in the end zone standing up…the kids a great talent,” Panthers head coach James Heggins on Rodriguez play.
With the Saints up 14-12 and 3:21 remaining in the third, quarterback Codee Watts rolled to his right, running the option he elected to pitch the ball. From his linebacker position, Rodriquez read the play perfectly and stole the ball mid-flight with nothing but end zone ahead of him.
“They ran [the play] before and my coaches told me to stay patient and I just made the play…it’s a huge win for us, San Dimas is really our rival and we just beat them at their house…it feels amazing,” Rodriguez said.
With 3:11 remaining in the fourth the Braves were looking to milk the clock pounding running back Anthony Moran. Pushing for extra yardage, Moran fumbled at the San Dimas 21-yardline and San Dimas linebacker Gabe Ojeda recovered.
The Saints looked to be in business as Watts, despite a rough game, engineered a picture perfect drive throwing for 70-yards. Watts threw a hitch pass to Davante Brown and defensive back Demetrius Jackson stripped the rock to virtually seal the game.
San Dimas controlled the clock well enough to get the ball back with 40 seconds remaining. Watts threw back to back passes to Kevin Kolbeck but he was tackled in bounds both times, the second coming with the clock reading zeroes to give the Braves the upset.
“You can’t turn the ball over and win. That’s the bottom line. So we [have to] work on ball security and make sure it doesn’t happen again this season,” head coach Bill Zernickow said on his team’s inability to hold on to the ball in crucial situations.
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