It was a night that Diamond Ranch Head Coach Roddy Layton would like to erase from his memory as soon as possible. It was Layton that predicted {earlier in the season} that his Panthers would defeat the Bulldogs to win the division title. It wasn’t even close.
The Bulldogs completely dominated from the start by shutting the down the Panthers potent running game, unfortunately for Diamond Ranch, they could not do the same to the Bulldogs explosive run game . West Covina built up a 21-0 lead and never looked back.
Instead of rambling on, lets show you what took place. Enjoy.
West Covina’s Varsity Bulldogs running attack was unstoppable Friday Night. Led by Jimmy (4 touchdowns in one game Bundy) Frazier and Aaron Salgado, the Bulldogs were up by 21 early in the 4th quarter.
Then things got interesting. A couple of missed tackles, and a couple of fumbles (one returned for a Huskies TD) and the Bulldogs were a two point conversion away from heading into overtime. The Huskies QB Vince Hernandez was pressured on the two point conversion play and his short pass into the end zone was swatted down by Dorrin Turner, ending the South Hills comeback.
Playing hard on every down
I know coaches preach this, but a perfect example of how important this is, was the Bulldog’s Lonzel Barnett’s block of a Huskies extra point. When Lonzel blocked the extra point, that made it only 35-20, most people watching the game probably felt that was not going to make much of a difference, but it certainly turned out to be a big play at the end of the game. The Huskies were forced to go for two to tie the game instead of just kicking an extra point which could have tied the game.
Really Fred?
Now, I usually do not like to call out someone when they are merely trying to hype a high school football game, but the Tribune’s Fred Robledo made a couple of false statements in his pregame analysis on Inland Insider Tom Kiss’s video highlights of the game.
Robledo said ” these two teams can’t stand each other”. Also, in trying to make the Huskies 3-7 record last year better than it seemed, Robledo stated that the Huskies played the Bulldogs tough.
Real facts:
These two teams are rivals because of their close proximity to each other, and that they are both in West Covina. They do not hate each other. They even celebrate the game at the same location when it is over. There were only a couple of little skirmishes during the game (hardly the results of two teams that “can’t stand” each other).
Also last years’ game between the Bulldogs and Huskies was never in doubt. The Bulldogs won by a score of 42-27 and were in control the entire way.
I guess Mr. Robledo’s well known love for the South Hill’s program sometimes just gets in the way.
With Spring practice going strong, and passing games and tournaments coming up. West Covina High School Football is back, and the Bulldogs will be seeking to defend their hard fought CIF Title.
So with the help of prep football addict-Aram Tolegian; lets hear from two returning stars of last year’s championship team, as well as the Bulldogs Head Coach Mike Maggiore.