- Gene Valdez threw two touchdown passes for St. Paul but it wasn’t enough.
One more from “One Year Ago” as St. Paul came up short in the CIF Division 5 Finals. Alex Gonzalez was on hand for the game story as Aquinas led by the running of Terayon Sweet came away victorious on November 29, 2019.
By Alex Gonzalez
(Santa Fe Springs) —Aquinas tailback Terayon Sweet led his team to the CIF-SS Division 5 title Friday night when he scored three touchdowns in the Falcons 21-16 win over St. Paul.
“It feels good. Great team win,” said Sweet after the game. “We worked hard. We blocked, played defense, hard defense. Shoutout to my defense. Thank you. Way to hit and good job.”
At the start of the game, Aquinas struggled to move the ball offensively against St. Paul’s defense, which only allowed an average of eight points throughout the 2019 campaign. Thanks to the protection, the Swordsmen jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first half.
Miles Mena’s 24-yard field goal gave his team a 3-0 advantage with 3:11 left in the first quarter. The Falcons tried to answer back with a field goal of their own, but Angel Garcia blocked Angels Pais’ 30-yard attempt as the first quarter ended.
Then on the next series, the Swordsmen scored the games first touchdown when Gene Valdez hooked up with Garcia for a 38-yard touchdown strike, extending the lead to 10 going into intermission.
Following the break, the Falcons opened the second half by orchestrating a 13-play drive that resulted in Sweet’s first touchdown when he bullied his way for the score from a yard out. The team added two points after the score when the ball slipped out of Francisco Mauigoa’s hands, who then was able to pick it up and score the two points.
“We got together with the line and talked about how we are going to get the job done and fix our mistakes,” Said Sweet when asked about the second-half adjustments.
The momentum then shifted on the ensuing kickoff when Aquinas elected to onside their kick and recovered it at midfield. Seven plays later, Sweet added his second touchdown of the night, giving his team the 14-10 lead with 5:33 left in the third quarter.
St. Paul tried to rally back and construct a touchdown drive of its own, but because of a holding penalty that was committed by the Swordsmen, it pushed them to a 4th and long situation. The series ultimately ended on downs when Valdez’s pass fell incomplete with 8:52 left in the fourth quarter.
Aquinas put the game away midway through the fourth when Sweet took the handoff and blew by the defense for the 41-yard score, giving his team a 21-10 lead.
St. Paul added a touchdown late when Valdez connected with Garcia for the second time. However, with a failed two-point conversion and onside kick, the Falcons were able to take the ball and kneel their way to a championship.
The funniest crap is when their fans complain about not passing the ball and to stop running it so much, did you not do your research and see that the St. Paul way is to run the ball 96% of the time even when down multiple scores. That institution is full of a bunch of thugs but they love to fake It when deep down they are very low quality individuals.
As a fan of HS football for over 40 years, I’ve seen over 400 HS games. I was at the St. Paul-Culver Gity game to see a good game and I did. The only drawback was sitting on the St Paul side and listening to the most foul language directed at their own players and coaches from the adult fans rootiong for St Paul.
F-bombs all game long. 400 games at least 200 different teams worst fans ever.
SP is all talk maybe the powerhouse needs to drop a few more divisions lol
SP kids tried but man their coaches talk like their division 1. They lost at their home field when they were expected to win. Wow how embarrassing for that staff with big mouths. We went in and took care of business. Any good program has stands for the visitors.
The QB is from Corona, the RB’s from the inner city, a few kids from Long Beach, whittier, cerritos, Compton etc etc. Not the SP of old but they sure love to pound their chest as if they were a D-1 program
Where do they get these kids?
Maybe SP should try Div 10 now. It’s a far cry from Div 1. Every good team they played this year smacked them. Bunch of goons over there. I even saw a kid take his helmet off and celebrate after a TD. How times have changed. Get them outta here!!
Where are all the Swordsman fans…awful quiet out there….
I figure St. Paul needs about two more out-of-area recruits to put them over the top. I wish them well as they strive to maximize their private school advantage.