No room to run for Amari Statten
(Pomona) Two excellent defenses were on display Friday night at Nancy J. McCracken Stadium on the campus of Ganesha High School. The Charter Oak Chargers defense was just a little tougher and shut out the Diamond Ranch Panthers 12-0.
“Our defensive line coach, Coach Perry, did a great job getting our defensive line prepared. We lost two All-CIF defensive linemen last year and that’s hard to replace. He (coach Perry) has done a great job with our guys” commented Charger Head Coach Lou Farrar after the game.
On top of getting the shut-out, Charter Oak’s line along with the rest of the defensive crew held the Diamond Ranch offense to under 100 total yards.
On the other side of the field how good was the Diamond Ranch defense? The Panthers held the Chargers to two lone first half fields goal even with two drives starting inside the Diamond Ranch 20-yard line.
Charter Oak managed to go up 6-0 when Robert Poage nailed his second field goal of the night from 21-yards out. The Chargers were set up in great field position when A.J. Powell stepped in front of a Gus Viramontes pass at Panther 23 and returned it to the 17.
Viramontes who was hounded by the Charger defensive line all night only was able to complete five of 13 passes for 51-yards and the lone interception.
The two defense held solid throughout the third quarter and deep into the fourth and with the lead, Charter Oak utilized some ball control offense on the legs of Adam Muema. Muema carried the ball 28 times on the night for 173-yards.
Dennis Rufus hauls in a 52 yarder from Santiago
The final score for the Chargers came with 5:52 left to play. On third and long from their own 48, Charter Oak quarterback Travis Santiago dropped back to pass. Santiago fired deep down the middle in the direction of Dennis Rufus. Rufus stretched out his hands and hauled the pass in and out ran the Panther defenders for the score. The Chargers went for the two point conversion but failed.
When asked if he was proud of the way his team defense played being down at least 10 players, Diamond Ranch Head Coach Roddy Layton responded, “Yeah, I am proud of them. We are down about 12 but I’m not going to use that as an excuse. We have some kids here who want to play football. We talk about being Gladiators and Spartans and standing at your brothers side.”
With the win Charter Oak moves to 2-0 in league and barring any major breakdowns should cruise to another Miramonte League title.
While there is concern for the Diamond Ranch faithful, being 1-6 should be a concern but let’s not forget this is exactly where they were last year. How did that season end? A trip to the CIF Southeast final against Charter Oak. History does have a tendency to repeat itself!
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