Rosemead was prey for the Wildcats on Friday night
By Joe Torosian
(Monrovia)- Little things add up.
For Rosemead they added up in a big way…No Joey Diaz, no Luis Diaz, no Dennis Palacios, eventually no Shane Ahhing, a young quarterback, a hungry opponent, and the sprinklers going on at halftime all worked to equal a dominant 33-7 victory for Monrovia on Friday night.
“We came out and new we needed to be physical. This was a big game for us against a good football team,” said Wildcats coach Ryan Maddox. “We took this as a test tonight.”
The win snapped a five game Rosemead winning streak against the Wildcats, including a 42-21 loss last year during the regular season as well the 16-6 victory in the Mid-Valley Division semifinals.
After an initial turnover on the game’s first play from scrimmage, M-Town rebounded with an 11-play 96-yard drive culminated by Derrick Johnson’s two-yard run. The score was the first of three for Johnson (15 carries 75-yards) who redeemed himself after fumbling the ball away on his team’s initial series.
The touchdown also set a pattern that there wasn’t a mistake the Panthers wouldn’t make, and there wasn’t an opportunity the Wildcats wouldn’t take advantage of either by the brute strength of its front line or by the fleet feet of Nick Bueno.
Rosemead fumbled the kick-off, Monrovia recovered to turn it into a 37-yard field goal by Christian Blanco and it was 10-0. A blocked punt was turned into a safety and the free kick left the ‘Cats the ball at the Panthers 48 with 3:34 remaining in the half.
An eight-yard run by Bueno, was followed by a 14-yard run by Bueno, and then 11-yard completion to Danny Caldera set up Johnson for an 11-yard scoring run to make it 19-0 at the break.
“He’s indescribable,” said M-Town linebacker Josh Lowden of the junior, and second year starter at quarterback.
Bueno rushed for 105-yards on 12 carries, threw for 81-yards on five of 12 passing, rushed for a touchdown and guided his team to three more while making play after play.
“We think of him as being one of the best quarterback’s in the valley,” said Maddox.
“He’s a stud,” said Rosemead coach Matt Koffler.
Bueno would add a 25-yard run and a 17-yard completion to Blanco to highlight a third quarter drive ending with Johnson’s third touchdown from four-yards out.
In the fourth quarter Panther quarterback Matt Macias scored on a 22-yard run on fourth and seven to make it 26-7.
Bueno responded on the next drive going 60-yards on five plays, including a 19-yard completion to Dujawn Jones, before scoring on an 18-yard run.
“I feel like we dominated both sides of the ball tonight,” said Maddox. “This is a new team, a new year, but of course we remembered that we lost to them twice last year. Our entire offensive line did a great job, so did our front line. But we have San Dimas next week so there’s no time to celebrate.”
M-Town's Derrick Johnson scoring one of his three touchdowns
“We’re just trying to play and learn through it,” said Koffler about the game and his team’s escalating injury list. “You’ve been around us a long time, I’ve never had this many injuries to so many guys, and were not talking ankle tweeks and bumps and bruises. There’s a lot of ice on knees over there.”
Unbeaten Monrovia faces unbeaten San Dimas next week, while Rosemead plays host its friends from Harvard-Westlake.
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