Glendora vs. Ayala: An interesting matchup
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Ayala is the media-darling of the moment. They are flashy, they throw the ball for tons of yards and have a tremendous back story. The Bulldogs (5-3, 3-0) went 0-10 last year and started this season 1-3. One colleague called them the Cinderella-story team of the season.
The Bulldogs rebounded from their horrible start with back-to-back victories over West Covina and Diamond Bar, but were back to their usual tricks when they found themselves down 33-14 heading into the fourth quarter against Damien.
The team, behind the strong arm of quarterback Matt Baca, then beat highly regarded Chino Hills to set up a Sierra League title game against Glendora tonight at Citrus College.
The Tartans (6-2, 3-0) are big, mean and defense-oriented. They run the ball almost twice as often as they throw it, so three-yards and a cloud of FieldTurf rubber pelts accurately describes their offensive philosophy.
After a 51-6 demolishing of Covina in the season opener, one of the Covina coaches said Glendora was like a junior college team, in terms of size, speed and toughness.
The Tartans may not be pretty to watch -- not like Ayala, at least -- but they’ve gotten the job done so far.
They tripped up against Charter Oak in a rivalry game (Chargers RB Kanaan Snowden was the difference-maker) and got trounced by a superior El Dorado squad in early October, but other than that have been more than solid.
In boxing it’s said that styles make the fights. And some of the best fights occur when you get two fighters with very different styles that just go at it (think Meldrick Taylor vs Julio Cesar Chavez). This game falls under that category.
They are two different teams, with two different philosophies. But their differences is what makes this an attractive game.
It’s Beauty vs. Beast.
-- Jaime Cardenas