Roosevelt Carries a Big Stick

An estimated 25,000 fans answered the main question about this year’s East Los Angeles Classic simply by showing up at the Coliseum on Friday night.

Yes, by prep standards, the annual football showdown between Garfield and Roosevelt high schools can attract a huge following even when it’s moved out of the Eastside neighborhood where it has thrived.

Whether the event has found a permanent home in South Central Los Angeles is open to debate.

But there was no question which team was better in the 65th game of the series.

Roosevelt took a 20-0 halftime lead and cruised to 41-0 victory that improved the Roughriders’ advantage in the series to 34-24-7.

It was the first shutout in the series since 1992 when Garfield won, 14-0.

It also was the largest margin of victory since Garfield won, 54-10, in 1995.

Senior running back Manuel Esparza rushed for 131 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns for Roosevelt, which improved to 6-3 overall and 3-1 in the Eastern League.

Garfield is 2-6-1 and 0-4.

“A couple of our players predicted a blowout,” Esparza said. “I just helped make their prediction come true.”

Esparza had help.

Senior running back Robert Smith gained 86 yards on 10 carries and scored on a 46-yard run with 8:31 left that provided Roosevelt with its final margin. Senior running back Angel Cruz gained 60 yards on eight carries and scored twice. Roughrider quarterback Daniel Ramirez completed five of eight passes for 140 yards, including a 56-yard touchdown to Esparza.

Roosevelt won despite amassing more than 100 yards in penalties.

“They always bring a lot of pressure,” said Garfield running back Daniel Saucedo, who gained 29 yards on 11 carries.

“We just didn’t have enough to break through it.”

Longtime followers of the Classic adopted a wait-and-see approach when a scheduling conflict at East L.A. College opened the door for Garfield, the manager of this year’s game, to move the event to the cavernous 92,000-seat Coliseum.

It marked the first time since 1953 that the Classic would be played anywhere other than 22,000-seat Weingart Stadium, which is almost always filled to capacity for the Classic.

Esparza, for one, said the game should remain at the Coliseum.

“This is a chance to be on the field where some great players have played,” he said.

“Even though its so big, you have the jumbo [replay] screen, the lights and the crowd. Everything just pumps you up.”

Roosevelt looked that way from the outset.

The Roughriders were ahead, 20-0, at halftime and it could have been worse if the Roughriders had taken advantage of several opportunities.

Garfield had possession first, but lost it when running back Rafael Nunez fumbled and Norman Watters picked up the ball and ran 60 yards for an apparent touchdown.

Roosevelt, however, was called for clipping on the return and had to settle for a first down at the Garfield 23.

On Roosevelt’s first offensive play, Esparza ran off right tackle on a counter play and dashed to the end zone for a touchdown 97 seconds into the game.

Roosevelt drove from its 46 to the three on its next possession, but Garfield stuffed Esparza on third and fourth down to end the drive.

The Bulldogs could not capitalize and were forced to punt from their eight, setting up Roosevelt once again with good field position.

This time, the Roughriders seized the opportunity.

They drove 36 yards in six plays with Cruz scoring on an eight-yard run to put Roosevelt ahead, 12-0.

Roosevelt scored its final touchdown of the half with 2:07 left on a 56-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ramirez to Esparza.

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* BIG EVENT

The Coliseum has hosted the Olympics, but for the fans who filled it for the Garfield-Roosevelt game, this was bigger. B5