La Cañada struggles in nonleague finale
ARCADIA — La Cañada High’s football team will have to right its wrongs when it really counts after another disappointing loss to conclude the nonleague portion of its season.
The Spartans continued committing crucial penalties and turned the ball over four times, while their defense struggled to get off the field against a formidable Rio Hondo Prep rushing attack that controlled time of possession and aided in handing La Cañada a 29-13 defeat on Friday night.
La Cañada, which has lost three of its last four, and went 2-3 in nonleague play, will kick off Rio Hondo League action at South Pasadena on Oct. 9.
“We played flat,” said first-year Spartans Coach Ryan Zerbel. “We have reached a low in the season and we need to get better. We have two weeks to get ready.”
La Cañada trailed the entire way. Ryan Brenemen, who finished with 137 yards in 21 carries, scored a touchdown from one yard out on the opening play of the fourth quarter. The two-point conversion, however, was unsuccessful, leaving the Spartans down two scores with one quarter to play.
Paced by their rushing attack, the Kares dominated time of possession and ran 14 plays on the ensuing possession spanning more than seven minutes. La Cañada was able to run only five plays in the fourth quarter, with both drives ending with an interception.
“We know they’re aggressive on the ball, so we ran misdirections and counters,” Rio Hondo Prep Coach Ken Drain said. “We did a lot of that in the second half and that’s all we did on that long drive in the fourth quarter.”
The Kares tallied 293 yards of total offense, with Domenico Chico and Stephen Santizo combining for 204 rushing yards.
Santizo scored the game’s opening touchdown with 7:53 remaining in the second quarter
Rio Hondo Prep quarterback Clark Bolinger accounted for the team’s next two touchdowns: a three-yard touchdown to Mike Tsogt to give the Kares a 15-0 advantage and later an eight-yard hookup with Chico in the third quarter. Tsogt capped the game’s scoring with a three-yard rushing touchdown with 1:36 left to play and the game all but decided.
Aside from Brenemen, La Cañada’s offense struggled to find rhythm, partly due to the lopsided number of plays in favor of Rio Hondo Prep.
Tyler Rubendall started at quarterback and took snaps for the first time this season. Zerbel was pleased with the junior’s play, overall.
“I think he played wonderful,” said Zerbel, who received 62 yards from Rubendall, including four completions to Daivon Grayson. “Overall, he did a good job throwing the ball. He has a lot of room to grow and the two weeks will do him a lot of good.”
After a first half in which the Spartans amounted 70 of their 121 yards of total offense, including a second quarter in which they ran only seven plays on offense, La Cañada’s longest drive came midway through the third quarter, resulting in a Rubendall rollout for a one-yard touchdown run.
The Spartans recovered a Rio Hondo Prep fumble on the ensuing drive, giving their offense the ball on the Kares 24-yard line. An interception on the first play dashed those hopes and the Kares capitalized with a 60-yard touchdown drive with 1:48 left to play in the third quarter.
Brenemen led the charge on La Cañada’s next drive, picking up 50 yards on the drive, including a one-yard touchdown with 11:57 left to play in the fourth, cutting the Kares’ lead down to 22-13.
La Cañada would run just five more plays in the quarter.
“[Our defensive coordinator] does an amazing job scheming,” said Zerbel when asked about his defense’s struggles against the Rio Hondo Prep offense. “The guys need to do a better job on assignments, play as a unit … on both sides of the ball.
“We’re building a culture here, it takes 11 guys. We want a brand of football and we haven’t had it yet.”