Glendale High football stymied by South Pasadena

SOUTH PASADENA — What looked like a momentum shift in favor of the Glendale High football team quickly went the other way.

Nitros quarterback Julian Rovira’s 65-yard touchdown strike to Mateo Morris put Glendale on the scoreboard late in the third quarter and cut host South Pasadena’s lead down to three in an evenly matched game until that point.

Unfortunately for the Nitros in their nonleague tilt with the Tigers, the ensuing kickoff went 100 yards the other way and Glendale’s next offensive possession ended in an interception returned for a touchdown.

In less than two minutes, a slim three-point margin turned into a 16-point advantage for South Pasadena. The Nitros wouldn’t recover as they fell, 23-7, to the Tigers on Friday evening at South Pasadena High.

“They executed a little better and made the big plays that we didn’t,” said third-year Nitros Coach John Tuttle, whose team dropped its second straight game after winning its season opener. “The kickoff return and the interception, you can’t allow big plays like that.”

Still down only two possessions, Glendale (1-2) put together a solid drive of 18 plays, spanning more than eight minutes over two quarters. Morris caught four balls on the drive and drew a crucial pass interference call on fourth down that put the Nitros on South Pasadena’s 11, with a fresh set of downs.

Glendale, however, did not finish the drive with the touchdown it needed, much less a field goal, and instead the drive ended in a sack on fourth down.

The Tigers (2-1) took over with 4:59 remaining in the game and used their rushing attack to gain two first downs and run the clock out.

“Disappointing,” Tuttle said of his team’s final offensive possession. “A drive like that not resulting in points is disappointing.”

Neither team reached 100 yards of total offense in a first half that saw the only scoring come on a 35-yard field goal from South Pasadena’s Robert Amaral. The first scoring drive of the game saw South Pasadena in Glendale territory for the first time, at the 5:46 mark of the second quarter, and was aided by a pair of facemask penalties against Glendale — the latter nullified a sack on third down.

Albert Markosyan recorded a sack on the next play, keeping the Tigers out of the end zone.

The Tigers did find the end zone on their first drive of the second half, however, as quarterback Michael Partida found Max Luck for a nine-yard connection. The touchdown capped an eight-play, 62-yard drive. Overall, Partida completed three of four attempts, each completion going to Luck.

Rovira accumulated 138 passing yards on 12 completions. Morris caught seven of them for 126 yards, including the touchdown with 3:06 remaining in the third. It sparked excitement on the Glendale sidelines, but it would be short-lived as Jalen Ross took the kickoff the length of the field to retake the double-digit advantage.

Ernesto Jauregui’s interception resulted in the team’s second touchdown in 16 seconds and maintained the jubilation on the home field and capped the game’s scoring, much to Glendale’s chagrin.

Glendale’s defense played well enough to hold South Pasadena’s playmaking rushing duo of Alton Phillips and Matthew Ayala to 106 yards, just one week after the two exceeded 200 yards on the ground against Glendale’s rival, Hoover, in a 39-0 victory.

Glendale’s tandem did not fare better, with Luis Ruiz and Daniel Jung combining for 63 yards on 23 carries.

Going into the Pacific League season, Glendale will look to improve on both sides of the ball as it attempts to rebound from two consecutive losses to Rio Hondo League opponents.

“We just need to practice harder,” Tuttle said. “League next week, zero-and-zero, start fresh.”