Fourth and long leads to La Cañada Gladiators’ third straight title

COVINA — To bring home its third consecutive championship, the La Cañada Gladiators Pee Wee team needed to convert on a fourth down and 20 to maintain its potential game-winning drive or give the ball to the opposing offense for its own potential Super Bowl-winning drive.

In what was only the team’s second pass play of the thrilling contest Saturday afternoon at Covina District Field, Sam Faulkner found a wide-open Patrick Weinmann for a 20-yard completion, earning a first down by inches and keeping a drive that surpassed seven minutes alive.

Weinmann was downed on Huntington Park’s seven-yard line, where Daylon Beasley took over with three positive runs, including a two-yard touchdown for the game-winner. Beasley had himself a game, with 161 yards in 28 carries and three touchdowns.

La Cañada’s special teams and defense assured Huntington Park would not respond with a game-tying touchdown to force overtime.

Instead, the Spartans did not gain any positive yards, thanks in part to a Sebastian Delon sack. The ensuing play would be the final one of the game, as the La Cañada faithful counted down to zero and eventual jubilation after prevailing, 24-16, on Saturday afternoon in the San Gabriel Valley Jr. All-American Football Conference Pee Wee Super Bowl.

“We’ve been working on that play all season long,” La Cañada Coach Jeremy Cisneros said of Faulkner’s pass to Weinmann. “I knew it would come down to one last drive. [Huntington Park] is a great team, they gave us our biggest fight and I knew it would come down to the fourth quarter.”

The Gladiators finished the season at an unblemished 11-0.

La Cañada’s game-winning drive started on its own 42-yard line and took 13 plays until Beasley’s touchdown with less than a minute remaining. Beasley tallied 53 yards on the drive and accounted for all three of his team’s touchdowns in an overall spectacular effort.

“I owe everything to them,” said Beasley about his offensive line. “I wouldn’t gain one yard without them.”

“Beasley is a beast,” Cisneros said. “He wanted the ball. His line [did a great job] and I’m proud of them, from Jonah [Cisneros] to [Jake] Fitzgerald to Delon.”

Huntington Park’s Jaceon Doss, who used to play for Glendale, matched Beasley’s first two touchdowns in what was a tightly contested championship game. La Cañada, though, never trailed, as it struck first with a Beasley one-yard touchdown with 8:28 to play in the second quarter.

Doss punched it in from one-yard out on the ensuing drive to tie the game at 8-8 with 4:28 remaining in the first half.

The Spartans threatened to score and take the lead in the waning seconds of the half, taking the ball to La Cañada’s 12-yard line. In a bit of a head-scratcher, however, they chose to run out the clock instead of taking a timeout.

The Gladiators, ages 10-12, put together another methodical drive in the third quarter, led by Beasley’s 64 rushing yards, highlighted by a 18-yard scamper to give La Cañada a 16-8 advantage, completed by Mycah Pasten’s second of three successful extra points.

Doss, again, answered with an eight-yard touchdown with 8:18 left to play in the game. The six-play drive preceded La Cañada’s game-winning one that saw the Gladiators overcome consecutive penalties that took their offense from the Spartans’ 12 to the 32, making for a difficult fourth down but one that would result in a first down, nonetheless, as Faulkner threw it on the mark and Weinmann made sure to haul it in.

“It came down to one play,” said Huntington Park Coach Fred Doss, whose team also came into the championship game undefeated. “The safety didn’t stay high and we blew the coverage. I messed up and should have told the safety to stay back. The receiver slipped underneath and it cost us the game.”

The victory is the program’s 30th in the last 31 games dating back to 2013. The three-peat is the program’s first in its 48-year history. Cisneros, who has been with the team for six years, showed relief at the conclusion.

“It feels good,” he said. “This team is a family off the field as it is on the field. They’re not the biggest, fastest, or hardest hitters, but their will and heart is there.”

Beasley echoed his coach’s sentiments

“It means so much,” he said. “We spend every day together and this win shows the dedication we have.”