By Rich Whittington
(El Monte) – The Montebello Oilers put a damper on the El Monte High School Homecoming festivities Friday evening, defeating the Lions 41-15, in front of a capacity crowd at Lions’ Stadium.
The Lions started off solid, assembling a 17 play, 74-yard drive that consumed the first 6:37 of the game. Unfortunately for the Lions the drive stalled, producing no points. This proved to be indicative of the Lions’ performance for the duration of the contest.
Montebello got on the scoreboard first courtesy of a 56-yard catch and run from quarterback Joe Curiel to wide receiver Jared Gomez. The extra point was added by Jacob Bautista, making the score 7-0 at the end of the first period.
The Oilers increased their lead in the second quarter, adding a pair of touchdowns by running back Donovan Murillo. The first came off of an 11-yard scoring jaunt while the second was the result of a 1-yard touchdown blast.
El Monte responded with a score of its own when quarterback Luis Gonzalez found wideout Geovanni Flores for a 25-yard touchdown toss. The El Monte extra point was booted by kicker Giovani Meza, making the score 19-7 at intermission.
Montebello continued its scoring barrage, beginning with the very first play of the second half, when Jared Gomez returned the opening kickoff 84 yards for a touchdown. The two-point conversion by Ethan Gomez made the score 27-7 just 13 seconds into the third quarter.
The Oilers tacked on another score in the period when Murillo posted his third touchdown of the evening…a six-yard rush. A second successful Bautista kick made the score 34-7 as the third quarter came to a close.
Montebello’s final score came in the fourth quarter. Backup running back Giovanni Solorzano got into the scoring books with a 16-yard touchdown run. A third Bautista extra point made the score 41-7, with 6:05 remaining in the contest.
El Monte found the end zone one more time when running back Ethan Lopez hit on a 6-yard run. Gonzalez found James Urena for a completion and two points for the final tally of the game.
Montebello’s Murillo had a fine outing finishing with 131 yards on 14 carries, scoring three touchdowns.
El Monte will look to rebound next Friday evening when the Lions travel to South El Monte to meet the 3-1 Eagles in the annual Griffin Bowl. Montebello will travel up the hill to meet the 1-3 Schurr Spartans in the “Backyard Brawl”.
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I have been at all the games. We graduated 24 seniors and we had a few returners transfers out. So basically we are playing with freshman and sophomores a JV team. But they are competing, I don’t know how but each week looks better and better. I’m proud to see the kids compete.
Congrats to my Oilers. Offense looked explosive, special teams made plays and the defense FINALLY had a good game. El Monte looked bad, so we did what we were supposed to do. Let’s see if the defense can be consistent, especially with the Spartans up next. I can only hope.