{"id":93390,"date":"2025-11-29T01:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=93390"},"modified":"2025-11-29T02:12:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T09:12:56","slug":"south-el-monte-wins-first-cif-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=93390","title":{"rendered":"South El Monte Wins First CIF Title"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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South El Monte CIF Division 14 champs. It’s the first CIF football championship in school history. (Photo by Duane Barker). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Tim Peterson <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Whittier) – Gabriel Canchola hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Michael Maldonado with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter to propel South El Monte to a 14-6 win over Pioneer Friday night at Dick Torres Memorial Stadium in the CIF Division 14 Finals.<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n

With the win South El Monte captured its first CIF Championship in football in school history. “It’s great for the school, great for the community. Small town, Love it, love it!” said South El Monte head coach Frank Gallardo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Damian Cordova ran for over 100 yards and a touchdown. (Photo by Duane Barker).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Eagles got the ball on their own 24-yard line with 3:42 left on the clock tied 6-6. They put together their best drive of the game marching 76 yards on 10 plays. Canchola capped it with the 10-yard touchdown grab on a toss from Maldonado. Damian Cordova, who had a big night on the ground, then ran in the two-point conversion to make it 14-6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An excessive celebration penalty on South El Monte set Pioneer up at the Eagles 45-yard line but the South defense held on the final possession. Pioneer’s Noah Anderson was sacked on the last play and the Eagles celebration ensued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Michael Maldonado threw the game winning touchdown pass with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter. (Photo by Duane Barker). <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

South El Monte struggled in the first half. The Eagles punted twice and missed a 29-yard field goal. On the last play of the first half Eligh Ybarra was tackled at the Pioneer thee-yard line after a reception as the clock hit zeroes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pioneer also punted twice but came up big on the third possession. Anderson hit Jose Rojas on a quick toss. Rojas got to the edge and raced down the sidelines 56 yards for the score. There was a bad snap on the extra point attempt leaving the score 6-0 with just 53 seconds left in the second quarter. The Titans took that lead into the break at halftime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a scoreless third quarter, the Eagles tied it in the fourth. Pioneer attempted a fake punt on fourth down and four at its own 26-yard line. A direct snap on a run came up a yard short and the Eagles took over at the Titan 29-yard line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South El Monte took advantage when four plays later Cordova crashed in from three yards out. The extra point was missed leaving the score tied at six with 5:47 left. The Eagles then forced a Pioneer punt, got the ball back and promptly went on the game winning march. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cordova finished with 112 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries for South. Isaac Gonzalez had seven catches for 71 yards and Canchola had four for 36 yards and a score. Maldonado threw for 166 yards and ran for 30 yards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Pioneer Rojas had three catches for 77 yards and a touchdown and Anderson combined for 104 yards through the air and on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pioneer, after winning a CIF title last year, finished the season at 7-7. South El Monte ended with an overall record of 10-4 and more importantly its first ever CIF championship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eagles 0 0 0 14 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Titans 0 6 0 0 0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Peterson (Whittier) – Gabriel Canchola hauled in a 10-yard touchdown pass from Michael Maldonado with 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter to propel South El Monte to a 14-6 win over Pioneer Friday night at Dick Torres Memorial Stadium in the CIF Division 14 Finals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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-93390","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\/93390","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=93390"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93413,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93390\/revisions\/93413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=93390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=93390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=93390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}