MidValleySports.Com

Duarte’s Jordan Johnson

By Steven Mercado

(Baldwin Park)- The Duarte Falcons needed to stay alive in the Montview League playoff hunt and they did just that with a 20-15 victory over the Sierra Vista Dons on Friday night.

It was a battle of running backs as the Falcons Jordan Johnson (26-207yds-2Tds) and the Dons Justin Torres (27-157yds-2Tds) each of the running backs carried their respective team’s offense attack.

“We really hung our offense on our big guy Angel Villanueva and ran behind him. He was a force against Sierra Vista and that’s what helped us get the victory,” Duarte HC Jason Martin about his offensive lineman. “This was a tough fight for us, we pulled together as a team, we had some key players go down throughout the game, we got banged up this game, but our second and third team guys stepped up real big for us.”

Duarte rolled to a 14-0 lead in the first half with its running game in command

On Sierra Vista’s first possession out of halftime it brought the ball up to the Falcon five before they were stopped by the Duarte defense and turned the ball over on downs.

The Dons continued to apply the pressure and scored 15 points in the second half, but the Falcons stayed composed and made the crucial stops.

The game was a physical one in which many players were injured and/or shaken up. Sierra Vista’s Torres and senior running back Ramon Villapando went down with injuries and were helped off the field, but came back later in the game. Duarte’s wide receiver Sam Edwards went out in the first half with an injury and stood on the sidelines without his pads for the rest of the game. Johnson also appeared to be shaken up after a series, but returned the following series for his second touchdown run.

“We can’t lose anymore games. We still have a possibility to go to the playoffs, so the playoffs started for us as of Monday. We had a relatively good week of practice, but we need to improve if we plan on winning these next two games. As you know, we have Bassett next week, who is rolling, and we end the year with Ganesha. We’ve got to finish and we’ve got to win out,” said Martin.

***Duarte senior wide receiver Darryl Robinson was the leading receiver for his team with two catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. His two catches came in the closing minutes of the first half. His TD catch was the only touchdown outside of Torres and Johnson’s rushing touchdowns.

***The only other Falcon to carry the football was junior running back Davante Robinson. His lone carry of the game was a 35-yard scamper that brought Duarte into the red zone. The following play, Johnson ran in the final Duarte touchdown for the night.

***Sierra Vista senior running back Lee Stone earned 69 rushing yards when Torres either was not in his groove or when he was out momentarily after leaving the field hunched over.

***Sierra Vista junior quarterback Steve Aguayo completed his first pass for eight yards. He threw the ball six more times all game and five of them fell incomplete while one of them was picked off after bouncing off the hands of the targeted receiver. He ran the ball six times for a total of 33 yards.

***The Dons’ defense held the Falcons to a three-and-out for the first two drives of the second half. The next drive for the Falcons made the game 20-7 and the drive after that closed the game out.

***“I’ve watched Bassett play and I love what the coaching staff is doing over there. I love the personality of that team–they have a lot of heart over there. If you’re not disciplined and you don’t have heart, they’re going to come out and kick your butt.”—Jason Martin.

***Sierra Vista (2-6, 1-4 Montview League) hosts Azusa (6-2, 5-0 league) next week.

***Duarte (4-4, 3-2 league) heads to Bassett (5-3, 5-0 league) to play the Olympians.