Azusa’s Angel Maldonado scored three touchdowns in the Aztecs win. He’s scored 14 Tds on the season. (Photo by Joe T.)
By Joe Torosian
(Glendora)—The Azusa Aztecs got three touchdowns from Angel Maldonado, built a 27 point lead, and then had to hold on to beat the El Monte Lions 33-26 Thursday night in the first round of the Mid-Valley Division playoffs at Citrus College.
“They’re a good team they did what I expected them to do,” said El Monte HC Joel Sanchez of Azusa. “Come out and play tough football just like we do. We were out of sync today but that doesn’t take away what they did…they came out and played football like they have all year and we came out a touchdown short…no excuses.”
The Aztecs led 16-6 at the break, 33-6 at the end of the third quarter, and the Lions looked more done than disco.
“We threw a lot of different blitzes at them and some of them were effective and we were pretty good in coverage,” said Azusa HC Joe Scherf.
Ever resilient EM rallied to score three fourth quarter touchdowns and were a tipped onside kick away from gaining possession with 2:41 to play at midfield.
Azusa took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter when they knocked the ball out of El Monte quarterback Edward Dominguez’s hand and out of the end zone.
This set off a disastrous stretch of football for both teams. The Lions kicked after the safety and Azusa took over at the EM 45. A bad snap on first down gave the ball to El Monte. Two plays later Roy Barajas fumbled and the Aztecs had it back. Two plays after that Joseph Ramirez fumbled and the Lions had it. Two plays after that Dominguez was picked off by Azusa’s Anthony Estrada.
Finally with 9:15 remaining in the second quarter Maldonado broke free for a 44-yard touchdown run. Five minutes later he scored on a 10-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Gabriel Whitworth.
“He’s been our go to guy all season,” said Scherf of Maldonado. “Spiritual leader, motivational guy, at 140 pounds thats pretty good. He runs pretty hard.”
On the last play of the first half Dominguez connected with Fernando Espinoza 44-yards out to make it 16-6.
The third quarter belonged to the Montview League champs. Joseph Ramirez completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Maldonado and then went 33-yards to Dominic Ramirez. Israel Ramirez added a 30-yard field goal and the discussion began to center around a possible running clock.
With twelve minutes to live the Lions woke up. Espinoza returned an interception 30-yards to paydirt at the 10:28 mark. Head Coach Joel Sanchez’s next move was an onside kick that was converted. Two minutes later Dominguez went 27-yards to Espinoza in the corner of the end zone and Barajas added the deuce.
Presto! It was 33-20 and a ballgame again.
“He stepped up when we needed him,” said Sanchez of Espinoza. “I told my guys if we get the ball back one more time he scores again.”
The Lions tried another onside kick, but this one was recovered by Azusa. The Aztecs ran three plays and were forced to punt and El Monte took over at its own 20 with 5:59 on the fourth quarter clock. The ensuing drive covering 80-yards over three minutes was hardly pretty. The Lions survived a false start, converted a fourth and 11 from its own 19 and a fourth and 15 from Azusa 25 before Barajas slammed in from a yard out.
“I was scared,” said Maldonado. “I knew they were good because I watched film on them.”
“We were a little shell shocked to be honest with you,” said Scherf. “But some of the guys stayed positive and kept their heads up. We still had the lead no reason to get down about it…We gotta recover the onside kicks…We were a little down though to be honest.”
The final onside kick took a bounce and was then tipped into the air. In reality it hung above the field for a fraction of a second, in the eyes of both coaching staffs it felt like an eternity before it came down and the Aztecs recovered.
Four straight running plays by Maldonado forced El Monte to burn through its complement of timeouts and eventually the clock for the win.
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