{"id":77768,"date":"2022-10-21T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-22T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=77768"},"modified":"2022-10-22T09:39:57","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T16:39:57","slug":"lopez-leads-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=77768","title":{"rendered":"Lopez Leads Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jonathan Lopez had a big night for El Monte. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Rich Whittington <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(South El Monte) – The El Monte Lions took a big step toward the post- season Friday evening, defeating the host South El Monte Eagles, 28-21, at Eagles Stadium\u2026affectionately known as \u201cThe Swamp\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

Football teaches us that big players make big plays at big times. This was again proven Friday evening, as Senior RB\/LB Jonathan Lopez contributed, and scored, from both sides of the ball. In all, Lopez would leave his mark on three of the Lions\u2019 four touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Monte opened the evening\u2019s scoring, when Lopez found the end zone for a 4-yard TD, capping off a 10 play, 78-yard drive with 4:10 remaining in the first quarter of play. The PAT was added by Brian Gomez, making the score 7-0, Lions. South El Monte countered with a score of their own, when QB Matthew Medina connected with RB Christopher Vasquez for a 75-yard catch- and- run. The PAT attempt, also by Vasquez, was successful, making the score 7-7 at the conclusion of quarter #1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South El Monte took the lead in the second quarter. After SS Nauh Martinez intercepted a pass from EM QB Alexiz Rodriquez, RB Alexander Ramos scored on a 21-yard run. The addition of another Vasquez PAT gave the Eagles a 14-7 lead with 9:59 remaining in the game\u2019s opening half. El Monte tied the game a few minutes later, as Jonathan Lopez rushed for his second score of the evening, a 6-yard TD blast. The addition of a second Gomez PAT made the score 14-14, at the end of the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third quarter saw the Lions score the go ahead touchdown. After a fumble by SEM QB Medina, which was recovered by Jonathan Lopez, the Lions scored on a 9-yard TD run by RB Saul Sanchez. Another successful Gomez PAT made the score 21-14, Lions, as the third quarter came to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The games final quarter provided yet more fireworks. South tied the score, when Medina connected with TE D\u2019angelo Huerta for a 22-yard score. Another Vasquez PAT tied the score at 21, with 9:50 remaining in the contest. El Monte took the lead for good a few minutes later, as Jonathan Lopez intercepted an errant Medina pass and returned it 30-yards for his final score of the evening. Gomez converted his fourth extra point of the night, giving the Lions a 28-21 lead with 4:11 remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eagles had one final opportunity to tie that game. With less that a minute to play, the Eagles found themselves with a first-and-goal situation, on the Lions\u2019 1 yard line. The defense stiffened, tackling the SEM Running Back for a six-yard loss. Another negative rushing attempt, and two incomplete passes, turned the ball over to the lions with 10 seconds remaining in the game, giving the Lions a 28-21 victory<\/p>\n\n\n\n

El Monte concludes their MVL season next Thursday, 10\/27\/22, when the Lions host the Rosemead Panthers, in what will determine the recipient the league\u2019s second automatic CIF Playoff spot. South El Monte will complete their league season on Friday, 10\/28, when the Eagles will host the Mt. View Vikings. Kickoff for both contests is scheduled for 7:00PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rich Whittington (South El Monte) – The El Monte Lions took a big step toward the post- season Friday evening, defeating the host South El Monte Eagles, 28-21, at Eagles Stadium\u2026affectionately known as \u201cThe Swamp\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12816,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hsfootball","category-high-school-sports"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77768"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77772,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77768\/revisions\/77772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}