By Duane Barker
(Baldwin Park)
The Baldwin Park Braves hosted the South El Monte Eagles Friday night and were less than gracious hosts scoring through the air and on the ground dropping a 55-20 trouncing on the Eagles to the delight of the Brave faithful.
The Braves got on the board first with 7:58 to play in the first quarter. A 10-play 65-yard drive was capped by a 28-yard pass from Drew Knight to Tec Nunez. Erick Gonzalez added the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
The evening had a little bit of irony as Baldwin Park has a new staff member assisting Ibis Aguilar this season. The name and face are very familiar to South El Monte. None other than Eric Escamilla who has returned to the coaching ranks. Aguilar was on Escamilla’s staff when Escamilla was the head coach at South El Monte.
The Eagles came back to tie the game in the second quarter on a six yard run by Michael Valencia. The score was set up by a Knight fumble at his own 26 that was recovered by South El Monte.
Baldwin Park pushed their advantage back to 14-7 with just under 7:00 left to play in the first half. Knight made up for the previous miscue calling his own number from 2-yards out.
Four minutes later the Braves were in the endzone again when Knight found Isaiah Ariza on a 27-yard catch and run to paydirt. Gonzalez who missed the previous extra point was good on this one for the 20-7 lead.
With 1:36 left in the second the Eagles found some lightning when Christopher Vasquez got open for a 45-yard pass from Matthew Medina. Vasquez got open and out raced the Braves defense for the score. After the long run Vasquez missed the extra point.
Baldwin Park only needed a minute to get back on the scoreboard. A 61-yard drive was completed with a 13-yard strike from Knight to Caleb Calvin. With :33 left in the half the Braves led 26-13.
Lightning struck again in the form of Vasquez for the Eagles as he fielded the ensuing kickoff at his own 25, got to the edge and turned on the jets to glory. This time he made the extra point and South trailed by six.
With only :21 left to play in the second, the Braves could have just sat on the lead and take their advantage into the locker room for the half. Instead they marched down the field in four plays with Knight finding Nunez again this time from 13-yards away. Knight proceeded then to find Calving in the back of the endzone to complete the two-point conversion.
The second half belonged to the Baldwin Park defense who shut out the Eagles for the entire second half.
On the other side the offense score three more times on runs of 15-yards by Gino Cornejo, and 11-yard run by Corey Lacy and a 68-yard bomb from Robert Lucero to Isaiah Lucero.
On the evening Knight completed 15 of 23 passed for 253-yards and four scores through the air and had one on the ground.
Knight’s counterpart Medina completed 13 of 18 for 192-yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Medina’s favorite receiver was Vasquez who hauled in seven for 125 and a score.
Knight’s big target was Nunez who caught 6 for 129 and two touchdowns.
Baldwin park’s “recruiters” are trying hard to be like Mattv. Smh
Why do we have to wait til league ? Lmfao
Typical SEM ineligibility issues.
Most of the players for SEM Varsity are Sophmores. Let them develop a little and then we’ll see.
DONT worry we have a stud named Micheal Valencia wait till he pounds The ball come league
@eagles99
I thought I was being gracious with the fifty yards rushing. If I’m being honest, it was less than that. What would be best estimate on how many yards they rushed for? Either way they are struggling to move the ball on the ground correct?
@ Goldbrick: “Looks like they (the South El Monte Eagles) want to be a wing-T team, but the strength is at receiver.” Yeah, you’ve got that right; you saw exactly the same things I witnessed a week earlier.
Vasquez is the all-around star on the South El Monte team, and Medina is a legitimate quarterback (who’s only a sophomore, by the way). But, the Eagles are in desperate need of someone who can pound the ball on the ground.
So what is MV supposed to have a hard schedule for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in what 20 years? Workman is weak by MV isn’t a powerhouse
Arroyo 0-2 get better
South El Monte is figuring out what team they’re gonna be. this what the preseason is for. Discovery! I think the staff will see that a more 50-50 balance attack is going to be the best for this team. Medina has a strong arm and Vasquez might be the best receiver donning the wings fora while so use them. the offensive line is young so the run game will take a while to come around. When the Eagles made those runs in 17 and 18 the offensive line was very good which made the run game dominant. Now we don’t have that line or that runner but we can to a point where a balance attack will give the defenses problems.
@friday knights you’re such a homer you’re blind to your own faults. watch your games film and fix your mistakes before you try to fix ours. that offense is worse than ours for sure.
AT Goldbrick
we rushed the ball for more than 50 yards. not sure what game you were watching
Hahaha sure thing Get Back Coach! Everyone in the MVS blogs knows you’re a clown show. Make sure the kids stay behind the line this week. The real coaches have enough to worry about.
@clown-mous
When have I ever ran and hid from a loss? Never clown! You won’t even mention what team you pull for. You’re just a troll! Our offense sucks right now, do you doubt that will change? I can tell you nobody here is overly concerned about it. We will get it right.
Appreciate your concern tho troll
Hahaha hey Goldy fat chance I’d let that slip. I told everyone BP slaps the Eagles with a 50 piece. the Eagles are bad football team. When they are good I give them their due. They are not very good. They cannot move the football in the way that their offense was designed to do. So wouldn’t it be crazy to doing something the majority of the time that you just can’t do. From my math in two games they plus 6 yards rushing! -27 Vs Alhambra and 33 yards Vs BP.
They are relying on a single screen pass play and the ability a decent athlete to move the football. How long is it before teams take that away? Now I believe they Glendale so they’ll get the win but EM beats them so does everyone in league that field a team including Mt View!!!
Send a rescue party for FridayKnight Get Back Coach. He will emerge again when Arroyo starts to beat up on the bottom of the barrel MVL teams. Them sucking might be better for them. They’ll be placed in a higher division come playoffs. We know they can’t win it unless they’re placed with the upper divisions.
Workman weak tho mt view has a easy schedule
Saw this game live. Couple takeaways;
The obvious is BP is a better team. The braves look like they’re gonna be a problem for anyone they play. They have a good passing game, good on the ground and stingy on defense. BP looks in med season form. The Eagles on the other hand look like it’s the beginning of the season. I think there is definitely a identity struggle. Looks like they want to be a wing t team but the strength is at receiver. Vasquez is a clear MVP candidate maybe the front runner but he plays receiver on a team that wants to run the ball 25-35 times a game. That’s fine “if” the run game is effective which so far in these first two games it hasn’t been. -27 vs Alhambra and I’m estimating maybe 50yards rushing vs BP My guess is the coaching staff will have to make some serious adjustments to calling plays.
Hopefully my Buddy Friday knights will not brag about predicting 50 for the braves. Maybe he’ll lay low seeing as the knights are 0-2 and lost on the final seconds
The Mountain View Vikings got a much deserved victory as well, Beating Workman. YES!