By George Hernandez
[Perris] El Monte traveled east to take on an Inland Valley Orange Vista squad. The Lions took a 20-0 lead before halftime and held onto a 20-14 victory over the Coyotes Friday night .
El Monte pounded down field on their first possession of the game and capped it off with a 6-yard touchdown run by Abel Cuevas. Davon Booth took in the 2-pt conversion to make it 8-0.
After a Coyote three and out, the Lions moved the ball downfield again with their ground and pound offense and QB Nathan Velasquez finished it with a 1-yard leap to make it 14-0.
El Monte got the ball one more time before halftime and Velasquez found Booth from 22-yards out. On the play Velasquez was injured and wouldn’t return to the game.
A second half a pair of fumbles cost the Lions on offense. Orange Vista capitalized with touchdowns from Justin Fleming to Malek Jones and one on the ground by Kayvionta Patterson and closed the gap to 20-14 with 2-minutes left.
The Coyotes had a short field and with just under 2-minutes remaining and a Fleming pass was picked off by Sam Aseh to close out the victory for the Lions.
Ben Owsley dominated on defense with multiple tackles for loss. Booth finished with 24-carries for 130-yards.
El Monte opens league next week and travel to Rosemead while the Coyotes will stay home and face Azusa.
I was also at the game and I didn’t see anyone get hurt. It was anyone’s game. EM is not as good as you think. The boys play hard but other than the transfers their is no good athletes. Without the transfers this team wins maybe 4 games.
I was at the game and lions could’ve scored more if it wasn’t for injuries, if they face again in the playoffs EM takes a BIG win.