Weekly Football Previews: La Cañada gets one final nonleague game with Rio Hondo Prep
Less than halfway through its season, the La Cañada football team has suffered a rash of injuries. However, the Spartans are starting to get back some off their players, who are ready to contribute with the Rio Hondo League portion of the schedule looming.
La Cañada (2-2) will have one more nonleague test when it meets host Rio Hondo Prep (1-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.
The Spartans are expected to have junior outside linebackers Tyler Rubendall and Bryce Benton back in the lineup. Both have missed a portion of the season while recovering from injuries.
“I think it will make a tremendous difference getting a lot of our guys back out there,” said La Cañada Coach Ryan Zerbel, whose team suffered a 35-3 nonleague home loss against Crescenta Valley on Friday. “With the injuries we’ve had so far, it’s been a process of keeping an eye on things and understanding that there are a lot of ups and downs throughout a season.
“Hopefully, it’s out of the way now so we can get healthy and start peaking at the right time going into league.”
The Spartans will look to cut down on turnovers. La Cañada had three first-half turnovers that led to Crescenta Valley taking a 28-0 halftime advantage. La Cañada kicker Mikey Selsor converted on a 38-yard field goal midway through the third quarter for the Spartans only points.
“I think we’ve learned some things from the loss,” Zerbel said. “It led to us playing a lot better in the second half. We didn’t play the way we are capable of playing in the first half and you can’t do that against a team like CV.”
Rio Hondo Prep fell, 38-6, against Murrieta Calvary on Friday in a nonleague home contest.
Rio Hondo Prep running back Stephen Santivo finished with 68 yards in 14 carries and had a 14-yard touchdown run. Quarterback Clark Bolinger completed 12 of 29 tosses for 123 yards.
La Cañada registered a 26-19 home win against Rio Hondo Prep last season.
St. Francis at Canyon Country Canyon, 7:30 p.m. Friday: For the third straight season, the Golden Knights have begun 3-0. St. Francis, ranked second in the CIF Southern Section Southeast Division behind Angelus League rival Cathedral, started a four-game road trip Friday with a 32-14 nonleague win against Monrovia.
The Golden Knights, who won the league championship last season, got four touchdowns from running back Areg Nazarian against Monrovia. He rushed for three scores and hauled in another. St. Francis limited Monrovia to 222 yards of offense. St. Francis quarterback Miles Bryant shook off being sacked five times by completing nine of 15 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns.
Canyon fell, 35-6, to host Burbank on Sept. 17. The Cowboys (1-2) scored on their opening drive, capped by a three-yard touchdown pass from Miles Fallin to Jake Gavin. Fallin finished 22 of 42 for 199 yards and two interceptions.
St. Francis posted a 49-32 home win against Canyon last season.
Flintridge Prep bye: The Rebels (2-2) fell, 56-22, to Village Christian in a nonleague game Saturday at Occidental College. Flintridge Prep returns to action at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 with a nonleague home game against Campbell Hall at Occidental.