By Tim Peterson
(La Puente) – The West scored first and last but the East racked up 34 consecutive points in between in a 34-9 rout of the of the West Friday night in the 30th annual Hall of Fame game at Bassett High School.
The West had its chances early but was unable to capitalize. Brandon Stansell of Rowland intercepted West quarterback Matt Torres in the end zone early in the first quarter to halt a drive. On the West’s first possession Tra Sumler was hit and appeared to be down but the ball popped loose and the East fell on it on the West 33.
The East however was unable to convert the turnover into any points. Late in the first quarter Marquise Williams of Monrovia hauled in a 32 yard pass from Jesse Diaz and carried it down to the five yard line. The drive stalled there and Rosemead’s Bobby Maldonado booted a 24 yard field goal early in the second quarter.
The East put together an eight play 86 yard drive later in the second. Chris Allen of Charter Oak capped the march with a 15 yard strike to BJ Oyefeso of Rowland for a 6-3 lead.
On the next West possession, Evan Williams of Charter Oak stepped in front of an Angel Alejandre screen pass and rumbled for 50 yards for a touchdown.
Backed up in the end zone with just seconds left in the first half Maldonado punted for the West near the back line. Stansell fielded the ball, eluded a couple of defenders and as time ran out, Stansell out ran the West special team for a 56 yard punt return for a touchdown.
A 13-3 halftime deficit would have been manageable. But now it was 20-3 East and you could slowly see the air leaking out of the West balloon.
“The punt return killed us and the fumble and the non call killed us,” Koffler said.
“We knew we had some guys that could make big plays and Stansell sure made one there. We made big plays through out the game,” East Coach Jim Arellanes said.
The big plays continued for the East in the second half. Kiely Rycraw caught a 21 yard touchdown pass from Allen with just over eight minutes left in the third.
After a West turnover it was Rycraw time again. This time Cameron Deen of South Hills found the Charter Oak star as he fired a 23 yard bullet over the middle into Rycraw’s outstretched hands in the end zone. Suddenly it was 34-3 and it was lights out in La Puente.
There were still over seven minutes left in the third quarter but everybody including the snack bar vendors knew it was over.
The West scored with ten minutes left in the contest on a one yard sneak by Alejandre. The touchdown was set up by a 41 yard pass play from Alejandre (Rosemead) to San Marino’s Scott Dooley.
The East only threw the ball six times but three of those passes went for touchdowns. The West was victimized by four turnovers.
“I’m really proud of the way these guys worked hard for me. It was great to get a win,” Arellanes said.
W 0 3 0 6 9
E 0 20 14 0 34
Summary:
2nd Qtr:
W 11:07 Maldonado 24 yd FG
E 4:45 Oyefaso 15 yd pass from Allen (2 pt run failed)
E 1:25 Williams 56 yd Int. Ret. (Jeremy Brown Kick)
E :00 Stansell 56 yd punt return (Brown Kick)
3rd Qtr:
E Rycraw 21 yd pass from Allen (Brown Kick)
E 7:46 Rycraw 23 yd pass from Deen (Brown Kick)
4th Qtr:
W 10:01 Alejandre 1 yd run (2 pt run failed)
Leave a Reply