{"id":85171,"date":"2024-08-23T01:23:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T08:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=85171"},"modified":"2024-08-23T05:28:26","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T12:28:26","slug":"victory-for-spartans-lancers-offense-slow-to-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=85171","title":{"rendered":"Victory For Spartans…Lancers Offense Slow to Start"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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James Taylor was music to the ears of the Spartan faithful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Duane Barker<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Whittier, CA) The Damien Spartans traveled south to Cal High\u2019s Sandra Sanchez Thorstenson Stadium Thursday night to take on the La Serna Lancers in the first game of the 2024 season for both teams. The Spartans were victorious in last year\u2019s meeting and repeated their accomplishment with a 42-21 victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Last year’s loss didn’t do to much harm to the Lancer’s season as the went on to win a CIF title. They will look to rebound again off the loss in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spartans were led by James Taylor and Isaiah Arriaza who accounted for five of the seven scores. Taylor with 110-yards and one score and Arriaza with three through the air and one on the ground. Arriaza threw for 208-yards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damien received the kickoff to start the game and then marched 80-yards on six plays. The drive was capped by a 32-yard pass from Arriaza to Travon Garrison. The point after was good and the Spartans had the early lead 7-0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Spartans closed out the first quarter with another score this time it was Arriaza on the ground from 5-yards out. With 1:05 left in the first, Damien led 14-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 8:06 left in the second, La Serna got on the board driving 68-yards on 8 plays. Jordan Bonilla found Kaimana Tufaga over the middle and Tufaga did the rest, going 46-yards for the score. The point after was good and the Lancers cut the lead to 14-7. Tufaga finishes with three catches for 64-yards and the lone score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kaimana Tufaga with a big catch and run for a score.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As time was running out in the first half, the Spartans got on the board again with a 27-yard pass from Arriaza to Gavin Lannon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in the third quarter Damien extended its lead to 28-7 on a 9-yard pass from Arriaza to Raymon Ahumada that finished off a 6-play, 59-yard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later in the third, La Serna got on the board again on a 68-yard strike from Grady Long to Emre Law cutting the lead in half 28-14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early in the final frame the Spartans extended their lead back to 21 on a 4-yard run by Taylor to complete a 12-play, 67-yard drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lancers cut the lead back down to 14 with 6:32 left in the game when Ayden Contreras punched in it from 4-yards away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the kickoff, La Serna attempted an onside kick but failed giving the Spartans the ball at the Lancer 48. Six plays later Leviticus Mitchell sliced his way through the Lancer defense en route to a 16-yard score.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Damien will be on the road again next week to tangle with the Loyola Cubs while La Serna with be back at home to host the Schurr Spartans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Duane Barker (Whittier, CA) The Damien Spartans traveled south to Cal High\u2019s Sandra Sanchez Thorstenson Stadium Thursday night to take on the La Serna Lancers in the first game of the 2024 season for both teams. The Spartans were victorious in last year\u2019s meeting and repeated their accomplishment with a 42-21 victory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12816],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hsfootball"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=85171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85175,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85171\/revisions\/85175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=85171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=85171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=85171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}