By Alex A. Gonzalez
Inglewood —For the first time in the building’s history, the LA Bowl, played at Sofi Stadium, hosted its first high school football game between the Downey Vikings and the Warren Bears, one of Southern California’s biggest rivalries Friday night.
Madden Iamaleava tossed four touchdown passes and completed 23-28 passing attempts for 195 yards in the Bears 28-21 win over the Vikings, taking sole possession of first place in the Gateway League.
In front of a chaotic crowd of 18,815 fans, Downey started the party by scoring on their first possession of the game. Running back Jesse Albidrez carried the load for the Vikings as they drove down the field over nine plays. Once the offense got within striking range, Victor Morales took the handoff and capped the drive off with his 2-yard touchdown run with 8:29 in the opening frame.
The momentum carried over onto the defensive side of the ball for the Vikings as well. Warren could only gain 16 yards on their first possession and was forced to punt.
They then had another opportunity to put points on the board on their ensuing possession before the first quarter ended. After a shanked punt by Downey that set the Bears on the 13-yard line, they failed to take advantage and turned the ball over on downs when Kelton Strickland failed to convert the fourth down running play.
The scoring drought did not last long into the second quarter for the Bears as Iamaleava connected with Jordan Ross for their first touchdown of the night, tying the ball game at seven with 8:03 in the second quarter.
The Vikings’ defense broke that tie when Jaiden Padilla picked off Iamaleava’s pass and returned it for the touchdown, just after Morales fumbled the ball away one play earlier.
Just before the half, however, Warren could tie the ball game again with 1:18 left in the second quarter. Iamaleava found Ross again on the screenplay, who then took it to the house from 19 yards out.
Following the break, Warren took the lead after the offense compiled an 18-play drive that took more than seven minutes off the clock. Jace Brown hauled in the touchdown pass from Iamaleava, giving his team a 21-14 advantage.
Downey returned the favor by doing what the Bears did when they tied it again three minutes later. Oscar Rios capped the 11-play drive when he escaped the pocket and found a crease to the end zone from three yards out as the third quarter was about to end.
Warren regained the lead once more and kept it for good thanks to the Iamaleava-Ross connection as the two hooked up for their third touchdown of the night with 9:08 in the final quarter.
The Bears tightened their grip against Downey in the final minutes of regulation, forcing the Vikings to punt on their next possession.
Once Warren retained possession of the ball following the punt, the team ran the clock down to less than a minute. They did fail to convert on fourth and short, but since the team was deep in their red zone with 17 seconds remaining, the defense kept the Downey offense in front of them, preventing them from trying to tie the ball game up and force overtime.
With the win, Warren looks to remain undefeated in the Gateway league as they host La Mirada next Friday night. As for Downey, they will look to rebound next week as they travel to Mayfair next Friday night.
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