By Tim Peterson
(South El Monte) – South El Monte came into the game undefeated. South El Monte was at home and South El Monte was the favorite Friday night as Arroyo came into town. But when the clock hit zeroes, the dust had settled and the fans began to spill out into the parking it was Arroyo, as it has been so many times before, who walked out with the victory, a dominating 21-0 shutout of the Eagles at the Swamp.
Arroyo’s defense shut down South from start to finish. The Eagles did manage to venture into the red zone twice in the second half only to be stonewalled by the Knights’ front.
Arroyo’s offense did more than enough to get the victory. It could have been worse for the Eagles as the Knights left points on the table as they were turned away three times in South El Monte territory.
Late in the first quarter Arroyo went on an eight-play 65-yard drive to go up 7-0. Dillon Seguin scored on a one-yard run to finish it.
After a short punt by the Eagles Arroyo was in business again at the South El Monte 31-yard line. Three plays later Richard Inostroz took a handoff on a reverse and scampered 18 yards for the score for a 14-0 lead with 9:31 left in the second quarter.
South El Monte punted four times in the first half and turned the ball over on an interception.
Arroyo had a chance to add three right before the end of the first half but a 30-yard field goal attempt sailed left.
Neither team scored in the third quarter. The Eagles had a golden opportunity to cash in when a bad snap on a punt attempt set up South El Monte at the Arroyo 27. But the Eagles were unable to move the ball and quarterback Matthew Medina was sacked on fourth down.
On the next possession South drove down to the Arroyo 21 yard line but another sack on fourth down squashed another chance.
Arroyo iced the game with a late fourth quarter drive marching 79 yards. Seguin picked up his second touchdown of the night on a six-yard run with just 55 ticks left.
Adam Huizar was the Knights workhorse with 114 yards on 22 carries. Seguin ran for 31 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns and also threw for 104 yards. Lelan Garcia also ran for 62 hard earned yards.
South El Monte could never generate any momentum offensively. Angel Valladares ran for 44 yards on 12 carries.
Arroyo improved to 5-4 overall and 4-0 in the Mission Valley League and with Rosemead left next week the Knights seem destined for an undefeated league run. South El Monte was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten and fell to 8-1 on the season and 3-1 in the MVL.
Bahahahha the ring and banners you have nothing to do with! That’s cool bro. Enjoy it. It looks like you have nothing else. But seriously add PROTECT THE SIDELINE!!!
I can’t hear you girl… I’m shining my ring and looking for a place to hang yet another banner. Running out of room
Get Back Coach you need to add DEFEND THE SIDELINE! CHAIN GANG! ASSIST THE ASSISTANT!
Haha SEMs Starting Rb was out so that means you run the ball more? Sounds like a south El Monte thing to do. Swap drained! The “Un-Civil” war was won by the dudes in the armor.
Slayton was never a good fit at Rosemead. Time to move on.
very true Valencia being down you would think they would lean on the dudes who have ballin for them all season and not hope that a back up was gonna lead them and deliver a league championship. Fridayknights bro i cant stand your commentary most times but you hit the nail on the head. it was scared playcalling. you have to risk it for the biscuit. I hope some of those receivers dont leave the program
@truth
With Valencia being out, wouldn’t that mean more passes not less? Makes the game plan vs Arroyo all the more puzzling. OC had more confidence in the back up RB than with his staring QB and first string receivers?
Last I check Sem has one lost,so slow your roll.Sem has been without there starting rb since Em game,not a excuse but a fact.
What division is Arroyo projected to be in the playoffs?
Word on the street is that the Rosemead team is suspended, so no Senior Knight game.
No they are in different Divisions
This should be a lesson to all. Coaching matters! Especially in the places like the MVL where kids are absolutely blue collar hardworking willing to be coached type kids. Getting quality assistant coaches is tough so when you get quality you try to keep them. The program benefits. In SEMs case Frank put together a decent staff early on and he rode that to some success. His latest iterations of a staff is pitiful. It’s the kind of staff that allow such a terrible and completely wrong game plan to go into a huge game. Imagine Singiser saying yeah we have this kid Camacho or Rivera but let’s try to throw only 5 passes hahahaha with them. Not saying Medina is close to those guys but you get the point. You play to your strengths of the squad. Coaching matters, leaders matter. If this team is indeed more talented than his semi finals team then it’s an even bigger disappointment and magnifies how important coaching is.
KNIGHTS WIN AGAIN! DRAIN THE SWAMP, DEFEND THE CASTLE!
Who is the OC these days at South? It can’t be who I’m hearing it is?
Is there a possibility that SEM and Arroyo might meet again in CIF?
@fridayknights he’s some guy I know lol!
Doesn’t matter who he is. What matters is he was on staff and was the only real coach (besides Beltran) that knew Gallardo
And his oc the biggest jokes on the staff. Gallardo and the oc have no business calling an offense. Gallardos ego is as big as his head. That’s why all the coaches that were there that mattered,took off!
If Beltran doesn’t challenge him, who would ? But sometimes coaches are stubborn in the heat of competition.
Certainly not his most talented though, that was a fit of hyperbole
@FridayKnights Sorry-the athletic comment was for the person that posted that Arroyo always has the best athletes, that is why they win. If you were at the game, it was pretty obvious which team had better athletes-and it was not Arroyo. This may be one of the least athletic teams Arroyo has had in recent years. But they buckled up and played tough, disciplined football-that was the difference.
@Get Back Coach….hahahahahaha you know you want to say something bozo
No way…Frank Gallardo just got out coached. Plus he has no one on his staff to step up and challenge him
@MVLHoops
Coach I didn’t say we had the better athletes I said SEM was more athletic but we would be tougher up front. That pretty much played out on Friday.
@Gold
SEM Coach Gallardo didn’t tank on purpose he choked as usual. What he did was scrap his strength or advantage he had over us and decided to play right into our strengths, that equals dumb. He’s inept not strategic. Now does it help the eagles playoffs seeding sure. Will it matter? Nope! That team’s confidence is shot. Right now they are a 3 legged horse. Frank had Mike Mooney on staff he let him go. Mike Mooney has a son who is killing the Rio Hondo league how much better would the Eagles be with Mooney on staff and his sons dominating on both sides of the line. What a dope!
@High Pitch
Who’s Raymond?
Here on a Monday and the question has been on my mind. Do you think SEM tanked this game for a better position in the playoffs? I hate to bring up the question but it just seems odd that a team with a Qb with almost 2,000 yards passing threw just 5 passes in the first half. Why? Something isn’t making sense here.
SME lost this game because coach Raymond isn’t on staff anymore!
Don’t know who Friday Knights is-and honestly do not care! But if you think Arroyo had the better athletes on Friday night, you are sadly mistaken. This South team has a far better group of athletes than this Arroyo team. Arroyo just played tough, disciplined and smart football all night. Arroyo dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball-even starting 2 juniors and 3 sophomores on the offensive line! Arroyo’s defense continually stepped up and made plays, while the offense moved the ball with both the run and pass. South seemed to get too conservative in red zone, and the Knights defense held strong in not allowing a score.
Look at Get Back Coach! She’s so happy! Hey buddy, now that Singiser and the staff is back how much better is it? Be honest. We all know they’ve been coaching. I don’t know why he denied it.
This proves two things. No matter how horrible the MVL is, Arroyo will continue to sit at the top. Seriously, it’s not like the new old staff and the kids miraculously worked hard and figured it out. The MVL is bad. Arroyo just always gets the best athletes so they’re gonna continue to have the most success. Props to Arroyo. They got an another league title. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the playoffs for them.
Get Back Coach, you did a good job patrolling the side lines. The kids stayed behind the line. I also heard you were the best chain gang crew on Thursday at the JV game. You deserve a treat. Ask Singiser to buy you a cookie.
I tried to tell everyone days before this game started exactly what would happen. SEM would choke they would stifle their own offense by being “too careful” the defense played surprisingly well but offensively just a shell of what they do well. I mean the only chance they had to win was to exploit their Receivers advantages. Gallardo said and I quote this is the most talented team he has had since he’s been there. Well way to express your confidence in them. Way to reward that talent with gutless play calling . 5 passes at half!!! 5!!! That 42-0 whooping the eagles took last year was still on the minds of the coaches. They probably see this as an improvement, we cut the loss in half maybe next year we can try for a tie! Hahaha Eagles don’t have a star but they have several athletes that could be stars. A soft schedule and cowardly play calling will never get them over the hump. Lastly……………
And still……… CHAMPIONS! Suckas
Right?!? Why go away from your bread and butter?!?!? They didn’t even give Aguilar a chance to go down field. Every one of SEM’s receivers had mis matches all night!! Really bad play calling.
SEM QB is top 20 in state for passing yards but only gets 5 pass attempts????? Make this make sense.
SEM OC/HC blew this game. They didn’t give their offense a chance. Instead of opening the playbook and giving their playmakers a chance they ran the same 3 plays. It looked like they were ok with losing this game.
Best case scenario was a win. Should’ve been a good competitive tough game win or lose. Didn’t expect the dud that played out for the Eagles. Doubt definitely settled in for South, coaches and players. Good wake up call, CIF playoffs are right around the corner with teams that are just as good or better than Arroyo. Southside keep your head up, keep working hard at practice, stay disciplined, and learn from your mistakes. Never give up! Congrats to the Knights, MVL Champs.
Very disappointing last night. the strength of the eagles all season has been the pass game. He threw 5 passes in the first half and was in negative yards. Which tells me The OC was scared to call the same game hes been calling all season. SEM receiver had a 4 inch height advantage over any Arroyo DB so why not put your strength to front? Gallardo plays not lose to Arroyo he doesnt play to win that mentality cost them last night. The soft schedule absolutely burned the Eagles as well.
Talent wasn’t the issue last night as SEM had the talent advantage IMO. Last night was a case where Arroyo knows they can win, SEM hopes they can win, big difference! This was dominance from the opening kick off. Arroyo completely engulfed what we thought was a potent SEM offense. This is the worst kind of loss at the worst possible time. The Eagles got dominated and probably doubt is setting in
It’s easy for all of us to come on here and judge coaches and calls they make from the stands. But when you’re sitting in the stands and listening to 8 year olds asking “why don’t they pass the ball?” Lol. How is SEM’s OC not going to let their weapons even attempt to make plays by calling the same bubble screen play over and over. Now we see why people come on here and troll.
Donald Trump was seen on the Knights’ sidelines. He heard there was a swamp to be drained.
Another Singiser sighting, this time coming out of the booth with a headset on. At the end of the Arroyo vs South El Monte game. I think he was listening to music enjoying the game, there’s no way a so called retired from football coach is making play calls right? Its ok, reports are he’s retired not coaching football anymore. Good to see him back at the old grid iron venues. Great win Coach, 21-0 another MVL title to hang at the Gym. Well deserved.