By Tim Peterson
(Montebello) – Schurr showed that it is still the team to beat in the Almont in a dominating 56-28 win over San Gabriel Thursday night on the Spartans home field.
San Gabriel came into the game undefeated and there was talk that the Matadors were ready to take the next step as a team to be reckoned with in the Amont League. The Matadors’ day may still come but on this night it was all Spartans.
Schurr piled up 340 yards on the ground in an overpowering ground attack. Elias Navarro led the way with 117 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Efrain Martinez scored three touchdowns while rushing for 96 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Joseph Navarro ran for 40 yards and a score and threw for 110 yards.
The Spartans scored first marching down the field 56 yards on 11 plays with Martinez going in from six yards out for a 7-0 lead.
San Gabriel answered later in the first quarter when Robert Lucero outran the Schurr secondary for a 76-yard touchdown.
In the second quarter the Spartans pieced together a couple of long extended drives. Martinez scored on 7-yard run to finish one march and Alvarado kept it himself to score on a one-yard quarterback sneak to complete an 80-yard drive with just 48 seconds left in the second quarter for a 21-7 Schurr lead at the half.
The Spartans blew it open in the third quarter with two touchdowns on their first two possessions. Shaun Ortega found paydirt on a two-yard run to make it 28-7.
San Gabriel did respond with a 52-yard drive that was capped by a one-yard run by Lucero to cut the lead back to two touchdowns.
But a quick strike by Schurr on the very next possession left SG reeling. Alvarado hit Carter Lopez for 49 yards down to the San Gabriel one yard line. From there Martinez punched it in to make it 35-14.
Another drive later in the third was finished by a one-yard plunge by Navarro with 3:26 left in the quarter and that was about all she wrote at 42-14.
San Gabriel had too big of a hill to climb although the Mats did have their moments. Ivan Can broke free for a 58-yard run late in the third and late and in the fourth quarter Lucero got loose again for a 63-yard touchdown sprint.
For good measure backup Schurr quarterback Francisco Cervantes crossed the goal line for a six-yard touchdown and Martinez pocketed his fourth score on the night hauling in a six-yard pass early in the fourth as the Spartans passed the 50 mark.
In any other contest the San Gabriel’s offense may have been enough. Lucero ran for 171 yards on just 8 carries to give them a spark but the Mats fell well short.
San Gabriel fell to 4-1 with the defeat while Schurr improved to 3-3 with the win but more importantly 1-0 in the Almont League.
It’s starts up front and sgv looked a lil to soft
Sg. Give out your participation certificates now. You’re a 4th place team in the Almont. Your not gonna compete against Montebello or Bell gardens. Both teams on Thursday struggled with tackling. If sg had an accurate QB you would have beaten a cover 3 Schurr team. Both defenses gave up easy thing to defend. Schurr has a veteran “defense coordinator” and he don’t adjust to anything. SG gave up easy thing to cover. rest of the season gonna be interesting in the Almont.
Hire Jude Oliva.
@NWO I actually think SGs coaching was superb, I don’t know what you mean by relaxed but let me explain my perspective. SG was able to mix in cadence calls, screens, and play actions arguably better then Schurr. Schurr had a way better defense and running attack that was able to overcome SG and it’s coaching. I would love to hear you elaborate on the relaxed coach perspective.
SG had a key player go down early in the 2nd qtr. and did not return. They simply aren’t deep enough, and the staff is too relaxed in my opinion. A tougher non-league wouldn’t hurt either. Still in a good position to make some noise.
San Gabriel = pretenders