Lions Literally Pass By Mt. View

By Josh Oullette

(El Monte)  El Monte used the arm of Brandon Martinez to blow out the Vikings 50-14 on Friday night in Mission Valley League play.

Mt. View took the ball first and seized early control of the game grinding the ball downfield against the Lions defense running the ball on every single one of their 18 play, 8:01, 72-yard scoring drive. Ignacio Castenada punched it in from a yard out to give the Vikings the early lead.

El Monte responded back quickly, producing a scoring drive of their own, going 63 yards on only seven plays, and only eating up a little over two minutes of the clock when Martinez hit Josh Wu in the endzone from 14 yards out. With 16 seconds left in the first quarter the score was now all tied at seven points apiece.

After a Viking three and out it was all Lions for the rest of the first half.

Martinez went on to find his receivers four more times in the half to blow the lead out of proportion. He hit Abel Barrajas on a 20 yarder, than found Memo Silva on a broken play that resulted in a 39-yard bomb for the score. In similar fashion he hit Wu again, this time for a 58-yard touchdown. And finally he wrapped up the half with a short pass to Juan Ceballos who scampered across the Mt. View defense for the 88-yard trip to pay dirt.

The Lions added a two-point conversion on the second connection between Martinez and Wu to send El Monte to a 36-7 lead at the break.

The second half started with a bang for EM when Ruben Jimenez returned the opening kick 76 yards to the Viking nine-yard line. On the second play Martinez punched it in from eight yards out.

Martinez finished 9 for 10 with 278 yards passing, 44 yards on the ground and accounted for six touchdowns.

Mt. View would go on to drive down and score, again with Castenada, this time from 13 yards out. Castenada would finish with 19 carries for 88 yards and the only two Viking scores.

On the ensuing kickoff Wu crushed any semblance of View’s momentum by returning the kick 87 yards, weaving in and out of the Viking’s special teamers for the games final touchdown and concluding the third quarter.

The night ultimately ended in controversy when in the final minute El Monte’s starting running back, Bryan Luevano, and a Mt. View player were thrown out of the game for an on field altercation following a 16-yard carry by the Lion player. Both players will be suspended for next week’s games, pending an appeal by both coaches.

Next week Mt. View (3-4, 0-2) will go on the road to take on South El Monte (5-2, 1-1).

El Monte (5-2, 2-0) will travel back home to play Gabrielino (3-4, 0-2) for their next contest.

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