By Josh Lowden
(Rosemead) – On an already special night, the Rosemead Panthers special teams came up big, providing three touchdowns in a 42-6 rout over the visiting Gabrielino Eagles.
After struggling to control the ball on a squib kick in the second quarter, Rosemead’s Dominic Salas broke a few tackles and ran 75-yards down the field for a touchdown.
Poor execution on special teams also cost Gabrielino in the third and fourth quarters. After a few close calls, the Panthers were able to block punts on three separate occasions, two resulting in touchdowns.
“It was fun,” said Rosemead Head Coach Matt Koffler.“I think our Special teams did really good creating turnovers.”
The Rosemead offense also had a great night. Using a balanced attack, the Panthers had little problems moving the ball down the field. On their opening drive, Matt Macias hit Christian Garcia on a Bubble Screen, which went 24 yards for a touchdown.
Gabrielino’s offense never found its rhythm, which resulted in them punting and turning the ball over several times. Its best overall drive came on their second possession, driving all the way to the Rosemead two. However, its offense couldn’t do much and turned the ball over on downs at the seven.
The Eagles were able to stall the Rosemead offense, and caused them to also turn the ball over on downs after a fake punt. On the first play from scrimmage, Eagles quarterback Issac Garcia threw a deep ball to Eddie Moreno. After the ball being tipped by a Rosemead defender, Moreno was able to come up with the ball and run down the sideline for a 69 yard score.
After Salas’ touchdown on the kick return, the Eagles fumbled on their kick return. After a long timeout due to a Gabrielino injury, the Eagles again stopped Rosemead on fourth down. However they could not hold on to the momentum. On first down on the Rosemead 31, the Panthers Andrew Gibson was able to strip the ball from an Eagles ball carrier.
Macias and company took advantage. On first down, Macias connected with Steven San miguel on a 12 yard strike. On the next play, Matt Fregoso ran 19-yards to bring the Panthers to 21 points. Fregoso also had another touchdown run for 45 yards in the fourth quarter.
Matt Macias finished with 11 completions on 16 attempts for 139 yards. Matt Fregoso finished with 136 yards on 16 carries.
“My O-line did a great job tonight,” said Rosemead running back Matt Fregoso. “They were able to create the holes and I just ran through them.”
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