Mikey Vasquez gained 168 yards and passed Darren MacLellan to become Arroyo's all time rushing leader.
(El Monte)- It didn’t take long, but when one team is 7-1 coming in and the other turns the ball over five times it shouldn’t. This is why Arroyo, not always looking its best, defeated El Monte 40-7 Friday night at Lions Stadium.
When the Lions weren’t turning the ball over it was Knights’ quarterback Steven Rivera making plays with two of his three touchdown passes coming in the first half. The first on a second down and eight from the El Monte 37 when he scrambled and found Anthony Miller down the east sideline for a touchdown. The second with four seconds remaining in the second quarter when he went 29-yards into the end zone to Hunter Duran to make the score 26-0 at the break.
When the Lions were turning the ball over it was at the most critical of times with the worst sort of results. After Cesar Barva booted 33-yard field goal to make it 10-0 Arroyo with 3:17 to play in the first quarter, things began to unravel for the Lions on their next possession.
Four runs by Michael Jimenez (31-182 yards TD) moved EM to its own 45. On second and five Manuel Santa Cruz’s pass was tipped and intercepted by defensive end Sam Torres who returned it 41-yards for a touchdown.
Two possessions later an El Monte drive ended at the Arroyo 19 with a fumble on a bad pitch exchange between Santa Cruz and Jimenez. Torres recovered. The Lions next drive ended at the goal line when Santa Cruz was picked off by Alexis Aceves. A minute later Mike Amaya rounded out the first half with another interception. In the fourth Andre Kerkhoff intercepted a fourth pass that lead to a final Arroyo touchdown.
And if it wasn’t big plays by Rivera or turnovers by the Lions, it was the worst kind of luck.
Down 17-0 following Torres’ interception return, El Monte went a quick three and out late in the first quarter. Rivera, from his own 39, scrambled out of the backfield and was sprinting down the western sideline in front of the Lions bench. After 50-yards he attempted to hurdle a final defender and was cartwheeled through the air. The ball came out in a brief scramble it went out of the back of the end zone for an apparent touchback.
The officials conferred inside the ten, the EM coaching staff assumed they would get the ball at their own 20 and at perhaps the their own nine at worst. Instead they got much more than worse, it was determined by the officiating crew that it was the momentum of an El Monte defender that carried the ball out of the back of the end zone, therefore Arroyo was awarded a safety. Lions HC Joel Sanchez, bordering on ballistic, asked how they could be given a safety when they never had possession. The refs cited by rule that since the ball was carried out of the back of the end zone by the defending team it was a safety.
In the second half the Arroyo mistakes were piling up several dropped balls, false starts, and misplays on swing passes that left the ball still alive kept the Knights from pressing their advantage.
With 25 seconds to play in the third quarter Jimenez scored on a one yard run capping a 15-play 79-yard drive where he carried the ball 12 times.
Arroyo responded with its own 68-yard drive that was capped by Vasquez’s 15-yard touchdown run on a fourth and one. During the drive Vasquez broke off a 27-yard run that made him the school’s all time leading rusher.
Three minutes later, following Kerkhoff’s interception, Rivera went 20-yards to Duran to close the scoring.
The victory improved Arroyo to 8-1 on the season and 4-0 in the Mission Valley. It was the Knights 20th consecutive victory over El Monte. The Lions fell to 4-5, 3-1 in the MVL. Their playoff hopes remain alive as they face Rosemead next week in a battle for second place.
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