By Rich Whittington
The Alhambra Moors opened the 2017 football season with a lot of hope and optimism. These hopes came crashing down at the hands of the South El Monte Eagles, Friday evening, as the Eagles handled Alhambra, 24-7, at Moor Field.
Alhambra scored first as quarterback Julien Garcia connected with Dylan Araiza for a 33 yard TD strike. Matthew Donko added the PAT, which made the score 7-0, with 5:53 remaining in the opening quarter. Unfortunately for the Moors, this would prove to be the entirety of their scoring for the evening, as well as the majority of the team’s highlights.
South El Monte came right back to tie the game on a one -yard keeper by quarterback Daniel Olmos.
From that point on the evening belonged to the Eagles. Specifically, the evening belonged to Olmos. Olmos completed seven passes for 81 yards, ran for 69 yards, scored touchdowns on runs of 1 and 9 yards, and returned an intercepted pass 24 yards to the Moor 8-yard line. Running back Sal Tovar seemed to begin his 2017 campaign where 2016 left off, carrying the ball 20 times for 96 yards; scoring on a 5 yard TD dive. Tovar also proved to be Olmos’ favorite target of the evening, catching three passes for 54 yards. Kicker Gasper Beltran also got into the scoring act, converting all three PAT attempts, and adding a 33 yard Field Goal.
Next week the Eagles will return to the friendly confines of The Swamp, as they host the La Puente Warriors. The Moors will host the Rowland Raiders. Kickoff for both is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
It’s official: The Rowland at Alhambra game, which was scheduled for tonight (Sept. 1), has been cancelled because of health concerns caused by the heat.
May everyone have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day weekend, and please stay hydrated.
@ Anonymous: The Alhambra Thunderbirds have been defunct for several years now. Sad, but true.
@ Moor fan: I see where you’re coming from, but I believe it’s simplistic and unfair to trace all the problems with Alhambra High’s football program to Coach Torres.
After all, Lou Torres was a longtime member of Coach Gil Ruedaflores’ staff, and he served as assistant head coach for a while before he had to concentrate full-time on his duties as athletic director.
Coach Torres gave up his position as athletic director when he was chosen to succeed Ruedaflores as head football coach in early 2010. And, I think that to some degree, Coach Torres’ two-year tenure was an extension of the Ruedaflores era, which lasted for 21 seasons.
In Coach Torres’ defense, I believe that he did a better job of holding our players accountable for their actions, and he strongly encouraged them to serve as positive role models on campus.
In contrast, when Coach Ruedaflores was still in charge during the early 2000’s, I saw several instances in which players skipped class or behaved poorly while they were in the classroom.
A lot of infighting went on between Coach Torres, the parents of certain players, and members of the booster club during the 2011 season, even as the varsity team went 9-3 and appeared in the CIF quarterfinals. I was not privy to many of the details, nor did I want to be.
I can’t definitively say whether Torres’ removal as head coach was justified, but nobody can doubt the fact that his two immediate successors, Joe Kanach and Chuck Leonardis, did tremendous damage to our football program.
Kanach was summarily fired halfway into the 2012 season due to his misconduct in the classroom, and Leonardis got dismissed in July, 2013 because he had assistant coaches who were providing creatine to some of the players.
This is the situation that Coach Eric Bergstrom and an almost entirely new staff walked into. It has been a major rebuilding project, and it has been compounded by an apathetic district administration and the lack of a feeder youth program.
Hiring Jude Oliva at any point in the timeline would have been a mistake, and still would be. I don’t have any idea who Zeke is, if that’s his real name, so I can’t make an informed comment on his qualifications for a head coaching position.
Here’s to hoping that we can accomplish a turnaround at AHS. And, I’m all for doing it sooner, rather than later.
@ron all the ethical issues at Alhambra started with the hiring of Lou Torres at the time he was co-athletic director so how could the school really choose the best candidate when Lou had a say in who to hire so the other candidates which were Jude and Zeke had no chance of getting the job. The Lou hiring was the biggest mistake that Alhambra made because after that it was down hill with nothing but ethical issues.
Hey, @Ron, how’s it going?
I’ve known Coach Gewecke for years, and I’ve occasionally covered his classes as a substitute teacher. But, sadly, I’ve never had the time to work with him on the baseball side.
What I do know is that Coach Gewecke is completely devoted to the baseball program and has worked hard to raise money in order to buy equipment and improve the facilities at Moor Field.
Instead of making a vague insinuation, why don’t you do everyone a favor and come out with some specific dirt? That is, if you actually have some.
And, how about using your real name, while you’re at it? I believe in accountability, and that principle should apply to everyone.
I can speak much more knowledgeably about the football program at Alhambra High. I can say with confidence that the current staff is doing all it can to win while adhering to the rules and to ethical standards.
Ironically, that seems to be one of our problems right now, because it doesn’t seem like we’ve earned any points with the win-at-all-costs types in Alhambra.
We’ll continue working hard, and we’ll keep playing the games one at a time. “Let the chips fall where they may.”
Alhambra knows all about ethical issues. Just look at how clean the baseball program is ran
That’s pretty good work for opening night. Good luck to the Eagles the rest of the season.
SG has a great feeder program that is just a stones thow away. Ledesma never showed any interest so most of those kids go to Rosemead or Almont rival Schurr. The majority of starters on both of SG’s CIF teams came out of said feeder program.
The real AUSD is part of the problem at Alhambra High. The football facility at Moor Field is one of the dumpiest-looking ones I’ve ever seen, and it’s been that way for decades. The district doesn’t even maintain the scoreboard properly.
That speaks volumes about the district’s commitment to all-around excellence.
In regard to Jude Oliva, he was a genius as the San Gabriel Matadors’ offensive coordinator under head coach Keith Jones. He directed their spread formation to near-perfection at times.
However, Oliva’s three-year tenure as San Gabriel’s head coach was a different story.
On the plus side, he led the Matadors to the CIF final in 2011, where they ended up losing to a dominant Monrovia team.
But, serious ethical issues developed. One instance was the Matadors’ use of an ineligible player, which forced them to forfeit their season opener in 2012. (Remember Mikal Quintanilla, who transferred to San Gabriel from Temple City?)
I don’t think Jude Oliva will ever get another coaching job in the Alhambra district. You’ll have to come up with a different candidate for the head coaching position at AHS.
In the meantime, we’ll keep trying to win football games, despite minimal support from the school district and the lack of a feeder youth program.
Eric took over a sinking ship but he has had time to change the culture,he is an campus teacher so what excuse is there. His offense has been horrible that supposed to be what his an expert at. Look at what Hector spathias did at Bassett in four years he changed that program and Bassett was in a worse position then Alhambra.
Bring Jude back. He would bring a staff that will coach these kids at Alhambra up unlike Eric and his staff
@Ron
Love your breakdowns and analysis keep them coming sir.
I’d like to chime in here… The buzz word for new coaches taking over programs is “Culture” Now this is the Mantra of a new coach or it’s used as an excuse. Alhambra football has been in the dumps for a while now it’s gonna take some time to get back. There was success last season just because you lose to a good SEM team doesn’t mean to throw the the staff under the bus (talking about the critics) You lost to a solid squad who will win a bunch of games this season take this as a learning experience and get better. Alhambra football seems to be getting better keep moving in that direction stay the course boys.
South El Monte’s aggressive and hard-hitting defenders held Alhambra to only 42 total yards. The Moors’ offense almost totally disappeared after Julien Garcia’s touchdown strike to wide receiver Dylan Araiza gave them a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Eagles limited Alhambra tailback Salman Gurung to just 25 yards on seven carries. They also sacked Garcia five times and picked off three of his passes.
South El Monte’s offense deserves a lot of credit, too, for denying Alhambra the ball. The Eagles ran 60 offensive plays on Friday night, to only 36 for the Moors.
South El Monte’s drive which tied the game, 7-7, early in the second quarter was one of the best displays of ball control I’ve ever seen. The Eagles held the ball for more than eight minutes while driving 80 yards in 16 plays.
South El Monte did a good job mixing up runs by tailback Sal Tovar and QB Daniel Olmos with an occasional pass by Olmos. The fact that Olmos is an adept runner when it comes to both designed plays and scrambles is a big plus for the Eagles.
Coach Frank Gallardo once again has a legitimate team, and I believe the Eagles might actually give Arroyo a challenge in the Mission Valley League this season.
Interesting that in three years Frank has changed south El Monte into a contender while here at Alhambra Eric has yet to transform Alhambra back to a contender in the almont
How did South El Monte’s defense any key players?