By Ron Vrooman
The San Gabriel Matadors defeated Alhambra, 32-11, last Friday night to win the Tri-City Championship for the fourth straight season. San Gabriel had taken its first step toward securing the football title for the Alhambra Unified School District by beating Mark Keppel, 33-10, a week earlier.
Quarterback Efren Torres, who was a perfect nine-for-nine for 97 yards against the Moors, threw two touchdown passes and scored on a one-yard keeper to lead the Matadors to a 19-3 halftime advantage. Alhambra didn’t get on the scoreboard until Nelson Gutierrez kicked a 30-yard field goal as time expired at the end of the second quarter. Any hope for a second-half comeback by the Moors was quickly extinguished as turnovers by quarterback Bryan Leonard—-an interception and an errant pitchout that was recovered by the Matadors—-enabled San Gabriel to build a 32-3 lead.
The Matadors scored their two insurance touchdowns on runs by tailback Adam Mascorro, who ended up carrying the ball 25 times for a total of 167 yards.
Alhambra got its only touchdown on a seven-yard run by tailback Halen Tsang with 5:20 left in the game. Leonard then ran for a two-point conversion to give the Moors their final points for the night. Tsang rushed for 85 yards in 13 carries, while Leonard completed nine of 22 passes for 95 yards, with the one interception.
San Gabriel rolled up 334 yards from scrimmage, compared to 198 yards for Alhambra. The Matadors gained 237 of their yards on the ground.
San Gabriel not only spoiled Alhambra’s homecoming, but also knocked the Moors out of playoff contention while greatly improving its own chances of reaching the postseason. The Matadors (2-2 in the Almont League and 3-6 overall) are now tied with the Montebello Oilers for third place, and they will play the Oilers this week with a probable playoff berth on the line.
Having won two straight games after a 1-6 start, the Matadors will have momentum on their side when they meet a Montebello team that has been crushed in consecutive games by Bell Gardens and Schurr. The upcoming game between Bell Gardens and Schurr, which are both undefeated in league play, will decide the Almont League championship.
Meanwhile, the Moors (0-4 in league and 1-8 overall) are still searching for an on-the-field win this season. They will get their last chance to score that victory this Thursday night, when they’ll go on a short road trip to take on winless Keppel.
There is only so much the defense can do when you have minimal offensive production. Sooner or later they will become demoralized and worn out . Hope offense can do something this week, for gosh sakes!
@ “Moist and Plump”: Those are pretty extreme comments, in my opinion, and I believe that most people will agree with me.
While Alhambra is obviously in need of a reset after two full seasons of out-of-control losing, that reset could take various forms short of not fielding a varsity team in 2025. By the way, I won’t have any role in whatever decisions might be made; I’m just a statistician and journalist who reports what happens on the field of play.
The only way that AHS wouldn’t play football in 2025 would be if the school district decided to drop the sport altogether. Based on what I have experienced in more than 20 years with AUSD, that’s highly unlikely, although the probability of it happening is something greater than a zero per cent chance.
If we were to apply your harsh standard consistently, then Mark Keppel should have cancelled its football program at least 10 to 15 years ago. The Aztecs, bless their hearts, aren’t quitters, and they’ve fielded a team every single year despite low player numbers and an almost endless string of 0-10 seasons.
We at Alhambra High aren’t quitters, either. We will do our best to find a way out of this current predicament.
@ Detached Observer: Thanks; I appreciate the kind words for our program. We’ve had three difficult seasons in a row now. From my standpoint, and I’m speaking only for myself, the loss to San Gabriel was one of several disappointments this season.
We were in position to eke out wins against both South El Monte and La Salle despite little production from the offense, but our defense broke down in the fourth quarter of each game. In the Montebello game, we were hurt by turnovers and penalties, and the defense couldn’t stop the Oilers’ late drive for their game-clinching field goal.
During most of the first half against San Gabriel, it looked like it was going to be a close game. However, it started slipping away from us when the Matadors scored two touchdowns in rapid succession to go ahead, 19-0, shortly before the break. Then we got buried by those two turnovers in the third quarter. I will not say that we were going to beat San Gabriel, but the game shouldn’t have turned into a blowout.
It’s been a whole range of things that have made us 1-8 this season: Turnovers, mistakes such as untimely offside and illegal procedure penalties, not enough experienced players, not enough discipline at times, poorly thrown passes, open receivers dropping passes, poor run blocking, you name it.
heads need to roll at alhambra. this is beyond ridiculous at this point. they need to shut the program down for 2025 and commit to a hard reset. sucks for the kids who will be seniors but it is for the greater good and the long term health of this once great program.
Wow Ron ! That had to be most disappointing performance of the year . The running game looks like it got going but…..
The scary part is that your score was almost exactly the same as Keppel score . Yikes . Even victory over hapless Keppel can not be assured .
San Gabriel will get worked by Montebello who will head to the playoffs . SG is not good despite the last two wins over league cellar dwellers , momentum aside .
Hope you get a win Thursday , good luck!