MidValleySports.Com

By Ron Vrooman

(San Gabriel) – After leading, 20-0, at the end of the third quarter, the San Gabriel Matadors had to withstand a late rally by the Alhambra Moors to escape with a 27-20 victory last Friday night.

The win by the Matadors, who are now 7-2 overall, lifted them into a third-place tie with the Montebello Oilers, while Alhambra (4-5) remained in the Almont League cellar with the Mark Keppel Aztecs. The loss by the visiting Moors was their fourth straight in league play. 

The Bell Gardens Lancers and the Schurr Spartans, who are tied atop the standings, will face off for the championship in their league finale this week. In the meantime, San Gabriel will play Montebello for third, while Alhambra and Keppel will attempt to escape last place.

The Matadors took advantage of two missed opportunities by the Moors, as well as Alhambra’s one turnover in the game, to gradually build a 20-0 lead.

On San Gabriel’s opening possession, quarterback Ricky Garcia threw a short pass that was intercepted at the Matadors’ 17 by the Moors’ Ivan Beltran, who returned the ball to the 11-yard line. 

However, on 4th-and-1 at the San Gabriel 2, Alhambra running back Halen Tsang was stopped for no gain and the Matadors took over on downs. The Matadors then drove 98 yards in nine plays, with Garcia hitting receiver Noah Osorio with a 12-yard touchdown pass to give them a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.

After the ensuing kickoff, the Moors drove to the San Gabriel 21, where they attempted to kick a field goal on 4th-and-8. Unfortunately for Alhambra, Tristan Garcia barely missed his 38-yard kick wide left, and the Matadors took over again at their own 20-yard line. 

San Gabriel scored its next touchdown six plays later, when Osorio sprinted 62 yards after catching a screen pass from Ricky Garcia. The Moors’ Nathan Rabadan blocked the Matadors’ extra-point try, so the score remained at 13-0 with 9:13 left in the second quarter. 

San Gabriel’s lead was still 13-0 when the Moors received the kickoff to open the third quarter and drove to the Matadors’ 16. But, a second-down pass by Alhambra quarterback Bryan Leonard was picked off by Christopher Ramirez, and San Gabriel took possession at the 10-yard line.  

Seven plays later, Ricky Garcia fired a screen pass to receiver Jahkai Lowe, who raced 75 yards for a TD that put the Matadors up by a score of 20-0. Then, it looked like the game was over for the Moors when they were forced to punt from their own 40 at the beginning of the fourth quarter. 

But mistakes by the Matadors suddenly gave Alhambra a fighting chance.

On 2nd-and-11 at the San Gabriel 29, Ricky Garcia was in shotgun formation for the Matadors when the snap from center sailed over his head. Alhambra defensive end Ethan Blanco recovered the loose ball, and the Moors were in business at the Matadors’ 13. Tsang scored on a five-yard run three plays later, and Tristan Garcia’s extra point cut San Gabriel’s lead to 20-7 with 9:29 remaining.

The Matadors had to punt the ball away after failing to get a first down on their next series, and the Moors started again at their own 27. It took Alhambra only three plays to score, with wide receiver Nero Navarro running 62 yards for a touchdown on a reverse. Tristan Garcia then kicked the point-after to narrow the gap to 20-14 with 7:24 left.

San Gabriel responded almost immediately, scoring on a 47-yard burst by running back Louie Navarro with 6:28 to go. Ramirez booted the extra point to increase the Matadors’ lead to 27-14. 

However, the Moors weren’t done yet, as Nero Navarro returned the San Gabriel kickoff 32 yards to set them up at their own 35. Ten plays later, Tsang scored his second touchdown on a one-yard plunge that reduced the Matadors’ advantage to 27-20 with 3:12 remaining in the game. 

But that was the closest the Moors would get, as Tristan Garcia hit the crossbar with his extra-point try. 

San Gabriel then took possession at the Alhambra 43 after the Moors’ onside kick failed to travel the necessary 10 yards. The drama wasn’t over, though.

On first down, the Matadors lost 17 yards on another bad snap from center, and on second down, Ricky Garcia threw an ill-advised pass which was intercepted by Alhambra free safety Calogero Duran. The turnover gave the Moors the ball—and one more chance—at the San Gabriel 43. 

The Moors quickly drove to the Matadors’ 12-yard line, but on 4th-and-3, Leonard overthrew a leaping Marco Vasquez in the end zone. San Gabriel took over on downs with less than two minutes left and proceeded to run out the clock. 

For the Matadors, Ricky Garcia connected on 11 of 15 passes for 246 yards and three scores, along with the two interceptions. His top receiver was Osorio, who made eight catches for 158 yards. San Gabriel’s leading ballcarrier was Louie Navarro, who rushed 15 times for a total of 123 yards. 

On the Alhambra side, Leonard completed 23 of 34 passes for 210 yards; Nero Navarro caught 10 of those throws for 79 yards. Tsang led the Moors in rushing with 20 carries for 64 yards.

San Gabriel had 343 yards in total offense, while Alhambra ended up with 328 yards from scrimmage.