Schurr rallies into the second round
By Juan Carlos Salas
(Montebello)- Schurr needed two fourth down stops to secure its 14-7 win over El Rancho in the first round of CIF play on Friday night.
After giving up the lead late in the third quarter, the Dons started the last quarter driving to the Spartan four. But on fourth and goal, Schurr’s David Aguilar stopped Ronnel Lone in the backfield.
After a Schurr punt, El Rancho again needed to convert on fourth down to keep its season alive. However, the Spartan defense held firm and stopped them one yard short of the first down marker.
“The defense saved us. The whole second half we shut [El Rancho] out,” said Schurr Head Coach Ben Negrete. “That was our goal and the guys did a tremendous job.”
The game started deadlocked until late in the second quarter. With eight seconds left in the half, Dons quarterback Josh Perea found Anthony Ayala in the back of the end zone, giving El Rancho the 7-0 lead.
The question on how the Spartans would respond in the second half was quickly answered when Nathan Ayon had a great punt return to place his team at the Dons 40.
“We told the guys that if we expected to be playing next week, that we better start coming out and playing our kind of football in the second half,” said Negrete. “They kind of took it to heart.”
The Spartans first series was capped by an 18-yard Aaron Cantu pass to Carlos Arredondo to tie the game.
“They took away the run and we had to resort to our passing game,” said Negrete. “Our passing game is pretty powerful so we were able to take advantage of that.”
Schurr’s next possession Cantu again showed his arm finding Angel Sanchez for a 34-yard touchdown pass. Cantu’s pinpoint loft was enough to finish the Spartan comeback.
Cantu would finish with 208 passing yards, going 15 for 19 in the night.
With the comeback victory, Schurr will travel Diamond Ranch next week.
“In the first round game we had some young starters. We might have been too emotional,” said Negrete. “Getting one under our belt will help us and be able to come out and play solid ball game next week.”
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