By Rich Whittington
(San Gabriel) – The San Gabriel Matadors won the CIF Division 13 Football Championship, the first in school history, Friday evening, defeating the visiting Bishop Montgomery Knights, 52-27, in the friendly confines of Matador Stadium.
San Gabriel wasted little time establishing control in this game. The Matadors took the opening kickoff and established a 15 play, 76-yard scoring drive that consumed the first 7:42 of the contest. The drive culminated in a 2-yard scoring blast by quarterback Jacob Muniz. The 2-point PAT, a pass from Muniz to Daniel Lopez, was successful, making the score 8-0 with 4:18 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Matadors continued this strategy into the second period. After Bishop Montgomery turned the ball over on downs, on the 1-yard line, San Gabriel established another long drive, covering 99 yards and consuming over seven minutes. The drive was capped by a second Muniz scoring run. The 2-Point PAT, a pass from Muniz to receiver Tijani Daley, was successful, making the score 16-0, with 5:39 remaining in the half.
Bishop Montgomery got on the board a short time later, when Tamairick Attaway found the end zone on a 2-yard run. The PAT was added by Diego Rodriguez, making the score 16-7, with 2:55 remaining until halftime. San Gabriel would add another score before the break when Troy Le ran 55 yards for a third matador TD. Another successful Daley 2-Point PAT made the score 24-7, as the first came to a close.
Bishop Montgomery scored first in the second half. The Knights scored quickly, as quarterback Rodriguez connected with wide receiver Justin Auston for a 57-yard touchdown, Rodriquez added the PAT, making the score 24-14, with 11:34 remaining in quarter number 3.
The Matadors would add the next two scores. The first coming on a third Muniz TD blast. The 2-Point PAT attempt, a run by running back Robert Lucero, was successful, making the score 32-14 at the halfway point of the period. The second score, a 3-yard run, was added by Lucero. The PAT was unsuccessful, making the score 38-14 after 3.
The fourth quarter provided more excitement, beginning with a bit of Matador trickery. San Gabriel scored on a “double-pass”, which saw Muniz toss to Lucero, who connected with Daley for a 35-yard touchdown. The PAT was unsuccessful, making the score 44-14 with 11 minutes remaining in regulation. The Knights struck back, as Rodriquez connected with receiver Jakob Martinez for a 10-yard score. The PAT attempt was good, making the score 44-21 with 10:26 remaining in the contest. San Gabriel scored next, when Ortega scored on a 5-yard TD rush. The 2-Point PAT attempt was again successful, making the score 52-21 with 4:49 remaining on the clock. Bishop Montgomery would add one final score when Rodriquez scored on a 1-yard blast. The PAT was wide, making the score 52-27 as time expired.
@ A-Town: Alhambra High’s football facilities are still substandard; the main difference is that they’re yet another decade older now.
In addition, Alhambra is the only school in the Almont League that doesn’t have a real stadium and has to have temporary bleachers installed every year. Even the most recent fixes haven’t worked out that well; the new scoreboard at Moor Field is glitchy, and the new natural playing surface has been lumpy from the very beginning.
The most worthwhile improvements at Moor Field have been the lighting system, which was installed in 2007 to replace a system that was 40 years old, and the temporary restrooms that replaced the Port-a-Potties.
This comment thread was supposed to be about San Gabriel’s division championship, so I wish to congratulate the Matadors once again on their historic accomplishment. I’m looking forward to the next Alhambra-San Gabriel game, which will be played at beautiful Matador Stadium in 2023.
It’s time for at least one or two of the Alhambra-district schools to assert some superiority in the Almont League.
@ Question Mark: You frequently make astute observations, but you’re way off base this time.
There is only one Mark Keppel in the Almont League, and you’re certainly doing the Montebello-district schools a disservice if you’re comparing their football programs to Keppel’s. Bell Gardens, Montebello, and Schurr have their ups and downs, but they are highly competitive more often than not.
You might have a point when it comes to our nonleague schedule and San Gabriel’s. However, Alhambra did play Franklin and South Pasadena, which both fielded good teams this year. As for playoff competition, that’s something we have no control over; that’s entirely a CIF problem.
Your closing remark is a cheap put-down of two hardworking head coaches and their assistants. A person of your intelligence ought to do better.
@ NWO: You’re talking about the 2003, 2011, and 2022 Matador teams, which were coached by Keith Jones, Jude Oliva, and Kevin Encinas, respectively.
One of the most important things they have in common is that they were all full-time employees at San Gabriel High School. In addition, each was all-in for his team, school, and community. They developed the ties necessary to get the most from the built-in advantages that San Gabriel already had, namely a superior football facility and a good youth feeder program.
The coaching staff at Alhambra High has similar traits, by the way. Coach Bergstrom and his offensive coordinator, Mike Mackintosh, work full-time at AHS, and most of the assistant coaches graduated from Alhambra. They, too, are all-in for their team, school, and community.
Why would anyone leave Alhambra or San Gabriel when all you have to do is play a bunch of Keppels every year? And when you make the playoffs you face even worse talent. Nobody going to leave these schools and have to go coach for a living.
You are 100% correct A-town. The three trips SG made to the finals, their teams were full of former Rebels.
Encinas Rebuilt that Rosemead rebel pipeline before him they were going to other schools. When sg has been successful it’s because they have been able to get the Rosemead rebels to go to SG this happened under Jones and Jude. If he does leave it’s for a better job in the sgv which Alhambra is not. As far as facilities don’t believe it’s changed under Gil and Torres we had the same facilities. Facilities is an excuse look at Inglewood high they want to the championship and their facilities are worse then ours. It comes done to coaching and coach has done a decent job.
@ Anonymous (the one or two of you who are ripping the Alhambra football program): Don’t get your hopes up too high. I know both Coach Bergstrom and Coach Encinas, and I will boldly predict that neither one of them will be leaving their current positions any time soon.
Why would Kevin Encinas want to leave San Gabriel High School, now that he’s started to achieve success there? He has a beautiful on-campus stadium and a stream of talented players coming from the Rosemead Rebels youth football program. (For those who aren’t aware, many of the students who attend San Gabriel High come from southern Rosemead and South San Gabriel.)
The Matadors have long had those built-in advantages, but the walk-on head coaches who ran their program during the five years before Encinas’ arrival in 2018 accomplished very little. Coach Encinas has a distinct vision, he’s worked hard to develop his players, and he’s created a culture of confidence at San Gabriel.
Encinas deserves a lot of credit, and so does the administration at SGHS, which hired him after finally realizing the need to have a head football coach who’s also a full-time teacher on campus.
Now for the other side of the equation. You seem to have forgotten it was just a year ago when Coach Bergstrom and his staff led Alhambra to a second-place finish in the Almont League and a run to the Division 14 semifinals. They and their players could’ve given up after a 1-4 start, but they instead won five of their last eight games.
Going back just a few years, Alhambra went 8-2 in 2018 and ended up 12-1 the following season after winning the Almont League title and advancing to the Division 13 semifinals. Those feats were also accomplished under the leadership of Coach Bergstrom, whom you are so eager to remove after a bad ending this year.
I know from years of first-hand experience that Coach Bergstrom cares as much about his players and is just as dedicated to winning as Coach Encinas or any other successful head football coach.
In addition, the successes we’ve experienced at Alhambra in recent years have come in spite of inadequate facilities and the total lack of a feeder youth program. Those factors have made it more difficult for us to compete, but we haven’t allowed them to deter us.
We have a capable and stable coaching staff, and we’ll have some good players returning next year. I am confident that Alhambra will be back in playoff contention soon.
@rob has coach Eric resigned how sg rebuild faster then us
@ NWO: Well, if that’s the case, the San Gabriel roster which was posted on MaxPreps was inaccurate. That’s where I got my information from. Anyway, the Matadors’ quarterback did a good job down the final stretch of the season.
Ron, SG’s QB is a senior, Jacob Muniz #1
@ NWO: I’m not sure how simple the Matadors made their offense; they used a lot of motion and misdirection in both of their games against Alhambra.
Running back Robert Lucero tenaciously grinds away with support from what appears to be a reasonably good offensive line. The freshman quarterback, Ricky Garcia, has a surprisingly strong arm considering his short stature, and he’s also a pretty good scrambler. They’ve played well when they really needed to.
@ Anonymous (the one throwing shade on San Gabriel): We can certainly debate the merits of the current playoff system, which I strongly dislike as well. And, with Rob Wigod stepping down as commissioner of the CIF Southern Section, I believe that the conversation regarding much-needed changes can and should begin almost immediately.
However, the Matadors deserve a lot of credit for staying the course and winning a division title. In addition, they compiled a record of 11-3 in doing so, while a lot of teams (including mine) made the playoffs with losing records.
The main idea in high school football is to defeat whatever team gets placed in front of you on any particular Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night in the fall. San Gabriel has done a good job of that this season.
Congratulations Matadors you made history for SGHS.. ❤️ 💙 Forever grateful for Coach Encinas huge impact on these young men …
@NWO, Ofcourse that’s when it played lesser teams.
Alhambra needs to fire coach Eric and hire Kevin
SG played their best football during the post season, they kept things simple on offense and were solid on defense. They scored 52 in both the semis and championship games.