Bryce, Bryce and more Bryce
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Los Alto’s Bryce Mahmud-McBride rushed for 219 yards and scored three touchdowns against Damien. If the Conquerors’ game against L.B. Wilson didn’t impress you, this one should. The Conquerors beat the Spartans, 31-20, to improve to 3-0.
But before I get ahead of myself and into Three-And-Out, let me wish Lou Farrar’s mother a Happy 90th birthday.
After every game Charter Oak coaches and players gather at Michelangelo’s Pizza in San Dimas. Win or lose, I believe. Well, following last night’s 13-7 victory over Glendora, I bet the pizza tasted real good. But like I said, the victory isn’t the only thing Chargers Coach Lou Farrar is celebrating this weekend. Farrar’s mother is turning 90. She was in attendance (one of the close to 5,000, approximately) at the game, and watched from a lawn chair behind the south end zone. And I bet even she appreciated the halfback option pass by Kaanan Snowden with 30 seconds that went for the winning touchdown.
OK, onto Three-And-Out.
First Down: Bryce Mahmud-McBride was the star for Los Altos once again. And even though I’ve been talking about this kid all season, I think he is under-hyped. Bryce took his game to another level last night. He rushed for 219 yards and three touchdowns as the Conquerors (3-0) stayed unbeaten. The SGVT’s Fred Robledo wrote:
It wasn’t just the 219 yards and three touchdowns that Los Altos High School’s Bryce Mahmud-McBride turned in during the Conquerors’ impressive 31-20 victory over Damien on Friday. It was the way he earned them, lowering his shoulder and running through Spartans defenders like they were bowling pins. ‘He ran over a guy tonight in a way that I’ve never seen in high school,’ Conquerors Coach Greg Gano said. ‘He’s very special. Our kids know you give him a crack and he’s gone.’
One of the touchdowns was a Reggie Bush-esque 22-yard run in which he started to the left and then reversed his field. It looked like a simple off-tackle run to the left, but the defense was all over it, even forcing a fumble. He recovered the ball and then cut back. The defense comically tried to stop its progress, but their momentum won’t allow that. They over-pursue, though. Bryce came back to the right, shook off a would-be tackler, picked up a block by TE Ray Rodriguez and then juked the last defender on his way to the end zone to give Los Altos a 21-17 lead.
Blog reader Conq’76 reported that Los Altos got off to a shaky start, trailing 10-0 and then 17-7 before getting it together. ‘Damien exposed some real weakness in LA special teams play,’ he wrote. ‘LA adjusted, started dropping the kick-off at around the 30-35 and giving the D the chance to stop Damien’s O. Once that was settled, Mahmud-McBride did his thing.’
Also about time is Alhambra getting some recognition. The running back duo of Anthony Brown and Shaw (Dushine) Smith led Alhambra (3-0) to a 42-14 victory over Arroyo (2-1). The victory prompted the PSN to write in it’s headline, ‘Moors are for real.’ Brown and Smith combined for 431 yards and five touchdowns in 32 carries. Each reached the 200-yard mark. I have my eye on that Alhambra-Schurr game on Nov. 9.
Third Down: Duarte routs Ganesha, 85-0. A couple of things, 1.) Talk about having your Madden Offense working, and 2.) Who’s Duarte? What’s more impressive, they ran only 22 plays, according to the SGVT’s Casey Cranford. The Falcons (3-1), who where up, 41-0, after the first quarter and 71-0 at the half, begin league play next week.
Punt: ‘They are huge. They are everything they were billed to be and more,’ Charter Oak Coach Lou Farrar said about Glendora. ‘They told our kids they were too small to play. What the hell, are we a Pop Warner football team? I didn’t know you had to weigh in to go play varsity football, but, anyway.... My kids just have big hearts. They are not very big right now, we ran through those big guys, but big heart, a lot of good pride and a lot of good character and it shows up in the fourth quarter.’
- Jaime Cardenas