Tim Peterson
Saturday December 11
Whittier Christian (12-1) at Monrovia (11-2) at Arcadia High School
Last Meeting: 12/05/09 CIF Semi-Finals: Monrovia 35-32
Last year they met in the semi finals. This year it’s the Finals. Monrovia trailed late before escaping with a three point win in a high scoring affair.
“It was a war,” said Monrovia Coach Ryan Maddox.
Both teams are coming off huge wins in the semis. Monrovia got San Dimas out of its head with a 47-14 rout of the Saints on the road. Whittier Christian’s Grant Escobar scored on a two point conversion to give the Heralds a 43-42 overtime win over Olympic League rival Village Christian in a game that was an instant classic as soon as Escobar hit the end zone.
Both teams can score. Monrovia averages over 36 points per game while Whittier Christian scores over 34. Stephen Anderson has a pair of big time receivers in Cameron Stanley and Cody Bronkar while Escobar does a solid job on the ground. Anderson can pull it up and run it as well.
Talk about pulling it up and running – Nick Bueno does it better than any quarterback in the valley. He rushed and passed for over 1400 yards in each category. Jay Henderson and Luke Williams are viable options for Bueno to throw to while Christian Blanco (151 yards, 4 touchdowns vs. San Dimas) is a monster on the ground.
The question is which defense can rise to the occasion. The Heralds like to bring a lot of pressure. They got to Kyle Custer on occasion but Amjed Aboul-hosn ran wild on them between the tackles. Monrovia doesn’t have a guy like Aboul-hosn but Blanco does a pretty good imitation.
Monrovia’s defense was too quick and athletic for San Dimas. Anthony Craft and Jay Henderson made several big plays in the secondary and oh yeah, there’s a guy named Ellis McCarthy up front.
I don’t think anybody’s defense can stop the other. Expect a lot of points to be scored. This one will go down to the wire. Flip a coin to determine the winner. I did and it came up Monrovia.
Monrovia 38 Whittier Christian 35
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