Rams Take League Opener

Josh Simangunsong finds a seam in Titan defense

(Temple City) The Temple City Rams opened league play and at one point score 24 unanswered points and spoil Mike Mooney’s return to Hitchcock Stadium at North Field as a head coach with a solid 31-21 win over the San Marino Titans Friday night.

The standing room only Homecoming crowd was treated to fireworks on the field and at halftime as the Rams (2-4, 1-0) put together a complete game on offense and defense but it was the special teams that made the first big play on the night.

On fourth and long deep in their own territory, the Titans (2-4, 0-1) lined up for a punt. Temple City’s Tim Sanderson fought his way through the protection and blocked the punt. The Rams recovered the blocked punt and the San Marino 25.

Two plays later Mikal Quintanilla dropped back to pass. Looking and unable to find anyone open to his left, Quintanilla broke containment and found wide open territory over the right side. 25-yards later the Rams quarterback found the the end zone.

“We solid defense the entire way, we did a nice job of bending but not breaking and stopping their drives. We were able to play field position and get a couple of big plays that sprung us. All in all it was a great team effort” commented Ram’s HC Mike McFarland.

The Titans answered the score with one of their own going 49-yards on nine plays. Ryan Wood finished the drive set up by Manny Vargas who returned the Ram kick off across midfield. The extra point was missed by Matt Wolford and with 11:26 left in the second quarter San Marino trailed 7-6.

With 5:10 left in the first half, Temple City extended their lead to 14-6. After a short punt set the Rams up with good field position a the Titan 44, Josh Simangunsong found a seam in the San Marino defense and was gone 44-yards to paydirt.

The Rams extended their lead before the intermission as a drive stalled on the San Marino 27. Nick Palmer trotted on to the field and calmly booted a 44-yard field go to push the lead to 17-6.

Temple City carried their momentum into the second half getting two more scores on a two yard run by Simangunsong and a 21-yard pass from Quintanilla to Tyler Roach.

It wasn’t until late in the final frame that the Titans were able to get on the board again. Wood capped a nine play 78-yard drive with 3:57 left with a one yard run and Kody Gerrick went to Vargas for the two point conversion.

With 13 seconds left to play San Marino lit the scoreboard lights up for the final time for the evening. Vargas got loose in the Ram secondary and Gerrick found him for a 30-yard touchdown strike.

After the game Titan HC Mike Mooney commented on his teams performance. “It was a case where we made too many mistakes and put ourselves behind. I thought we showed a lot of courage and kept fighting.”

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