MidValleySports.Com

By Steven Mercado

The Bassett Olympians came onto the La Puente Warriors’ home turf and ruined their homecoming game Friday night, holding the lead the entire game and winning 27-13. This was La Puente’s first loss in league play (2-1) while Bassett remains undefeated at 3-0.

Bassett’s offense was led by senior quarterback Nick Colmenero. He went 11-20 passing for 119 yards and ran the ball 18 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns. The Olympians’ use of the no-huddle offense and play action fakes kept the Warriors’ defense guessing. Bassett even included trickery in their gameplan tonight, using a wide receiver pass to score the first touchdown of the game.

Colmenero passed the ball backwards to junior wide receiver/defensive back Christopher Rios, who found senior wide receiver/defensive back/running back Eric Ruff wide open in the endzone for a 23-yard passing touchdown.

Bassett’s defense only allowed six points in the first half and continued to rush La Puente senior quarterback Jacob Tovar on the pass, making it difficult for him to match his 244-yard passing performance from last week. La Puente was held to 13 points in the game–their lowest point total of the season.

***Every road game for Bassett this season is the home team’s homecoming game.

***Bassett senior wide receiver/defensive back/running back Eric Ruff’s stats in the game: seven receptions, 95 yards and a touchdown.

***Bassett HC Hector Spathias on the win: “It’s good for us because everyone wants to win their homecoming game. We have to come out with our best. We play our best, we give it a battle, and the chips fall where they may. We put a lot of time in as far as preparing and watching film, so…we try our best to scout other teams to see what they do and put our team in a better situation.”

***The first drive for each team resulted in a touchdown. Tovar’s stats from the first drive: 6-6, 65 yards. The Warriors’ PAT was blocked to make the score 7-6 in favor of Bassett.

***Bassett finished with 215 rushing yards, opposed to 95 from LP.

***Colmenero starts at quarterback, kicker, and punter for the Olympians. He was hurt until the beginning of league play and they have not lost since his return.

***Each team scored one touchdown in the second half. The first came from La Puente’s opening drive, consisting purely of running plays. Bassett answered the following drive, starting at their own 13-yard line.

***Bassett’s trick play on the game’s opening drive was the only passing touchdown of the game for both teams.

***Spathias on the team’s success so far this season: “This is my second year here and we don’t get any respect. The kids just want respect because the seniors have been losing their whole lives; we just wanted something to hold on to. I’ve been teaching [at Bassett] for years and when I would see them in the classroom I could see how devastated they were. I’m glad to see these kids happy, that’s the main thing.”

***Bassett has not finished with a winning league record since the 2004-05 season when they went 4-2 in league.