MidValleySports.Com

Life is beautiful, especially when you’re a Falcon swooping down on a Gladiator (Photo by Doug Brown)

By Joe Torosian

(Duarte)- After a scoreless first quarter the Duarte Falcons put 45 unanswered points on the board and glided to an easy 45-0 victory over the Gladstone Gladiators on thursday night in Montview League action.

Falcons running back Sam Edwards scored twice. First on a 53-yard screen pass from Mark Cruz where he zig-zagged back and forth across the field before reaching paydirt. That score made it 17-0 at the half. His second score came on a 78-yard fumble recovery in the final seconds of the third quarter to push the Duarte advantage to 38-0.

“This puts us back in position where we’re in playoff contention now,” said Duarte HC Jason Martin. “We just got to stay the course and keep doing the things were doing, stay consistent, and become better mental football players.”

The Gladiators struggled all night against the quicker Falcons defense. Starting quarterback Juan Aldana missed on all eight passing attempts, which including several drops by his receivers. Back up quarterback Kyle Karbowski completed one pass to Ben Reaves for 3-yards late in the contest.

While it was Cruz who threw the touchdown pass to Edwards, Isaiah Scott did the bulk of the damage at quarterback for Duarte. Scott went  13 of 22 for 217 yards and a touchdown. The scoring pass was a 28-yard strike to Nick Leon in the second.

***Falcons kicker Eduardo Acosta kicked a 34-yard field goal with 9:52 to play in the second quarter.

***Duarte WR/RB Darryl Robinson caught 3 passes for 34 yards, and rushed 2 times for 41 yards, including a 27-yard scoring run to close out the game.

***”Oh, we just got him (Robinson) two games ago. He’s our surprise for league play.”—Jason Martin.

***Gladstone quarterback Juan Aldana carried the ball 13 times for 36 yards.

***Falcons running back Sam Edwards carried the ball 12 times for 56 yards, caught 3 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown, returned a fumble 78-yards for a touchdown.

***Duarte running back Jordan Johnson scored on an 18-yard run to open the third quarter.

***When Isaiah Scott scored on a 1-yard run to make it 31-0 in the third, a running clock was initiated.

***The Gladiators had 10 possessions, 7 ended with a punt, 1 on a turnover on downs, 1 by fumble, and the last when the clock ran out in the fourth quarter.

***Duarte started on the offensive line: LT: Lorenzo Rojas. LG: Angel Villanueva. C: Robert Hernandez. RG: Irwin Almaraza. RT: Andrew Ramirez.

***Gladstone started on the offensive line:  LT: Alex Chavez. LG: Vincent Dominguez. C: Martin Saucedo. RG: Rudy Reyes. RT: Vincent Marlen.

***The Falcons are now 2-1 in league (3-3 overall) the host La Puente next week.

***The Gladiators are now 1-2 in league (2-4 overall) they play Azusa next week.