The Friday Knight Lights for Arroyo (see Singiser interview in story)
(Temple City)- Arroyo’s Steven Rivera, with his big left arm, threw three first quarter touchdown passes to three different receivers in the Knights 42-6 lightening strike victory over Temple City on Friday night.
The win was Arroyo’s (2-0) first in the Home of the Camellias since September 10, 2004 when another junior quarterback (Dominic Salmon) threw three touchdown passes.
Rivera’s (11 of 18 154-yards) touchdown’s went to tight end Sam Torres from 13-yards with 9:07 remaining in the first quarter. It was followed eight minutes later with 35-yard connection to Anthony Miller. Finally with 50 seconds left in the opening stanza, Rivera hooked up with Hunter Duran for a 40-yard ka-boom.
“It always feels good,” said Rivera about the win and his play. “But our schemes were great and the entire offensive line was doing its job.”
To add to head coach Jim Singiser’s assertion last week that Rivera is who they thought he was, the quarterback sprinted 19-yards behind his linemen on a draw in the second quarter to make it 28-0 Knights.
TE/DE is becoming one of the best in the Mid-Valley Division
Counting last year’s heroics at Bergstrom which included three touchdown passes and a 91-yard game winner to Chris Rodriguez, Rivera is far removed from his freshman season performance against the Rams when his team lost twice and managed a mere six points combined.
“I don’t know if it’s slower,” said Rivera describing how the game comes to him now. “But experience really helps, thank the Lord.”
Senior running back Mike Vasquez (12-carries 89-yards) rounded things out with two second half touchdown runs of five and one yard.
Temple City HC Mike McFarland joined a long list of pretty good coaches who started things off with a loss to Arroyo. However, few Ram teams have been so beaten down. Their first six series ended in a punt, a fumble, a punt, a fumble, a punt, and another punt. TC picked up its initial first down with a 1:33 left in the first quarter on Mikal Quintanilla’s 11-yard run, but they turned it over on the next play.
The host team did get on the board after a blown call on a fumble by the Knights Robert Thome, who was clearly down after running a Fly Sweep (or something akin). Taking control at the Arroyo 38, the Rams Carlos Mota moved the ball 15-yards on two carries. A pass to Nick Palmer set them up inside the ten and a defensive holding penalty gave them life long enough for Quintanilla to hit tight end Tim Sanderson to make it 28-6 at the break.
The Knights front line beat up the nicely sized but experience lacking Temple City line literally from start to finish as they chased running backs Jamie Dea and Josh Simangunsong to the showers early and kept Quintanilla running for his health.
The Arroyo defense was led by the solid play of Torres from his defensive end spot, Andre Kerkoff at strong safety, and cornerback Mike Amaya. In reality the entire defense shined while registering eight sacks. Rivera also intercepted a pass between quarterback, punting, and selling programs at the gate (old joke, but you get the drift).
“Oh,” Singiser smiled when it was over. “We have a long way to go as a football team.”
Enter Rivera again as he and the offensive line posed for a picture after the game. When asked to raised their fingers and give a number one sign, the quarterback spoke up. “No, no way,” Rivera said. “We haven’t won anything yet.”
Arroyo gets Montebello next week, while Temple City faces a struggling Montebello team.
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