MidValleySports.Com

By Juan Carlos Salas

(Monterey Park) In a season home opener not played at home, San Gabriel fell to visiting Cathedral, 26-10, Friday night at Keppel High School.

In a battle of running backs the Matadors depended on Senior Fabian Amaro who had one touchdown and served as a double threat at receiver. However, it was Cathedral’s Kristaan Ivory who won the battle notching two touchdowns and over 170 yards rushing.

San Gabriel got in front with a first quarter field goal and carried it late into the half before Cathedral reached the end zone with a 20 yard pass by Senior Quarterback Trevor Olson who found Senior Wide Receiver Anthony Jefferson off a slant play. It appeared that the Matadors had possession throughout most of the half even with constant pressure by the Phantom dense and some breaks in their favor. Midway through the second quarter, San Gabriel’s Kicker, Gilmar Tenes, had a well placed side punt hit one of opposing players and recovered by San Gabriel at Cathedral 32 yard line – it would be a foreshadowing of the night as – they went 4 and out.

Minutes before halftime, a 22 yard connection between San Gabriel’s QB Isaac Valdez and Wide Receiver Robert Ramirez moved the team within striking distance. However miscommunication including two consecutive bad snaps aided Cathedral to recover the ball at San Gabriel’s 29 yard line.

San Gabriel started the second half in a positive note with a 28 yard return, followed by a 13 yard pass to Steven Park. Adding to that couple of rushes by Amaro, couple of flags, and the Matadors saw themselves at the Cathedral 25 yard line early on. Yet the Phantoms held steady and San Gabriel turned over the ball in downs.

The rest of the quarter would see the same from both squads until the last couple of minutes of the quarter when Ivory found a seam in the middle and scored his first touchdown of the night and putting Cathedral further ahead 3-12. This was the beginning of the end from the Matadors as their tiredness and exhaustion was becoming clear.

“The second half showed our lack of condition. We had to modify our practices and that lack of conditioning showed in the second half. We didn’t have our legs, we weren’t talking Ivory,” said San Gabriel Head Coach Keith Jones. “The kids played their heart out but we cramped all over the place. I think the game was postponed several times because we were cramping all over the place.”

Aside from couple of 15 yard penalties going to their favor, San Gabriel wasn’t able to create any offense in the fourth quarter, including missing a field goal. On the other hand, Cathedral capitalized on weary legs and Ivory shined again with a 25 yard rushing touchdown which was followed by an 80 yard touchdown reception in their next possession. San Gabriel showed their grit late in the game and it was no other than Amaro with a 15 yard touchdown catch.

San Gabriel will try to recover from the loss with a matchup against South Pasadena while Cathedral will try to start a winning streak when they host Glendale.