Turnovers plague La Cañada football in costly defeat

LA CAÑADA — Things spiraled out of control early and often for the La Cañada High football team Friday night.

Needing a victory to get back on track in the Rio Hondo League, the Spartans got uncharacteristically sloppy on offense and the frustration clearly began to mount.

La Cañada committed seven turnovers and saw starting quarterback Tyler Rudendall ejected in the second quarter for throwing a punch at a South Pasadena player in a 31-6 home defeat.

La Cañada (3-4, 0-2 in league) never led and put itself in a big hole with a pair of league games remaining.

“We grossly underachieved tonight after playing so well [a week earlier] against Monrovia,” La Cañada second-year Coach Ryan Zerbel said. “We just came out flat and we laid down in the first quarter.

“This is a game that you should want to play and we didn’t really do much. You can live with some of the turnovers, but we just didn’t have it tonight. Things got out of control.”

South Pasadena (6-1, 2-0) scored on four of its first five possessions to take a 25-0 lead in the second quarter.

After South Pasadena quarterback Adam Arellano scored on a one-yard run to make it 25-0 with 6:34 left in the first half, a brief scrum ensued in the end zome. Rubendall, who also plays linebacker, was tossed for punching a South Pasadena player. Zerbel said Rubendall, who had completed three of five passes for 21 yards, will serve a one-game suspension against host Temple City on Friday.

“That put us in a terrible position,” Zerbel said. “I take the referees’ word on what happened.”

South Pasadena took an 8-0 lead on a one-yard run by Arellano, who finished with four total touchdowns, with 4:15 left in the first quarter. Sidney Luna-Long then caught a pass from Jalen Ross for the two-point conversion.

The Tigers made it 11-0 on a field goal by Justin Huff with 40.8 seconds to go in the first quarter.

La Cañada tried to regroup early in the second quarter. Luke Johnson caught a short pass down the left side from Rubendall, but fumbled at the South Pasadena 31-yard line. Noah Millhollin of South Pasadena scooped up the ball and returned it to the La Cañada two-yard line. Arellano then scored on a one-yard run to make it 18-0 with 8:07 to go in the second quarter.

After the Tigers extended their lead to 25-0, the Spartans fumbled and South Pasadena recovered at the La Cañada 28-yard line. Ross then caught a 10-yard pass from Arellano, who completed 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards, to give the Tigers a 31-0 lead with 3:41 left in the first half.

La Cañada got a fumble recovery from Raffi Hairapetian, a tackle, who scooped up a loose ball and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 31-6 with 8:27 left in the third quarter.

Cornerback Jamie Washington had two interceptions for the Spartans in the second half.

Ross caught seven passes for 36 yards and intercepted a pass for South Pasadena, which got 68 yards in 10 carries from Jackson Totleben.

La Cañada reserve quarterback Matt Bromley completed six of 23 passes for 73 yards and three interceptions.

La Cañada running back Brandon Sherman said the Spartans need to regroup quickly.

“We are going to have to practice hard and come back from this,” said Sherman, who finished with 37 yards rushing in 12 carries. “We came out real flat in our homecoming game and we were deflated.”