Despite sloppiness, La Cañada football blanks Rio Hondo Prep
LA CAÑADA — For a little more than a half of action, the play of the La Cañada High football team was somewhere between deflating and disappointing.
The Spartans couldn’t seem to get out of their own way, committing drive-killing penalties and losing the ball with regularity.
About the only thing the Spartans had going for them Thursday evening at home versus small-school power Rio Hondo Prep was their size and speed.
And that proved to be enough.
La Cañada scored touchdowns on three of its final four drives and wore down the smaller Kares, 20-0, to conclude the nonleague season with a 3-2 mark.
The Spartans will head into a bye week before running into an immediate challenge at Monrovia on Oct. 7 in the Rio Hondo League opener.
“It’s great to get a win and end the preseason on a positive note going into the bye,” said Spartans Coach Ryan Zerbel, whose team was held scoreless in the first half. “That’s what we wanted to do, but we make things really difficult on ourselves. They make me scream like a mad man, but, hey, we’ll head into the bye week and we’ll get a lot of guys back before we start league healthy.”
La Cañada was flagged 13 times for 100 yards with three of those penalties being personal fouls. The Spartans also botched a 22-yard field goal, had an extra-point attempt blocked and fumbled four times, although the squad somehow recovered each fumble.
Despite all that baggage, the defense of coordinator and La Cañada assistant head coach Jason Sarceda shined again, as his unit picked up its fourth shutout during Sarceda’s three-year tenure.
While Rio Hondo Prep running back Stephen Santizo proved effective in rushing for 96 yards on 22 carries, the rest of the Kares (2-2) combined for 32 yards of offense.
Kares quarterback Mikey Tsogt completed five of 15 passes for 55 yards, but was tackled behind the line of scrimmage five times for minus-28 yards.
“The pressure all starts in practice,” said Spartans senior defensive end Theo Chamberlain, who finished with two sacks. “This week, we just tried to emphasize how we were going to contain and that’s what our D-line did tonight.”
On the flip side, La Cañada quarterback Tyler Rubendall rushed 14 times for 153 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Brandon Sharman also rushed for 142 yards and one score on 19 carries.
The Spartans put the game away when both the offensive and defensive units worked together.
La Cañada led, 6-0, early in the fourth quarter when Rio Hondo marched from its 48-yard line to the Spartans’ 19.
With a fourth and four and 11:31 remaining, a pass from Tsogt to a wide-open Jayoung Wong was batted away by Spartans linebacker Vince Dioguardi, which led to a turnover on downs.
The Spartans offense then took the field, picked up eight first downs, milked away more than five minutes and scored on a one-yard plunge from Rubendall. Though the two-point conversion was stuffed, La Cañada took a 12-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the game.
“I just tried to give our team momentum behind our O-line, which was solid tonight,” Rubendall said. “When we got push against them, they couldn’t stop us. The only thing that stopped us was our own fumbles and I take the blame because of the miscommunications. We’ll clean that up before Monrovia.”
Rio Hondo Prep drove again on its next possession and reached the Spartans’ 43 with another fourth down attempt looming. Again, the Spartans defense rose to the occasion and forced an incomplete pass with 1:54 remaining.
On the next play after the turnover on downs, Rubendall broke free on a scramble for a 57-yard touchdown that put the home team up, 20-0, after Rubendall punched in his own two-point try.
The only other score of the game came when Sharman broke free for a 42-yard rushing score down the home sideline with 9:07 left in the third quarter that broke a scoreless stalemate.
La Cañada committed a false start on the extra point and had it blocked to keep the score at 6-0.
