Glendale football unable to stave off Arcadia onslaught
ARCADIA — Glendale High football made the journey to face host Arcadia on the Nitros’ longest road trip of the season.
It turned out to be a tough visit to the Apaches’ home field.
Glendale was simply over-matched against the high-powered Apaches, and Arcadia downed Glendale, 63-6, in Pacific League football Friday night.
“[Arcadia] is a good team,” Glendale coach Cary Harris said. “We’re learning how to be disciplined and do our job. That is what it is about.”
Glendale (1-6, 0-4 in league) has now lost 25 straight Pacific League games. However, one streak did come to an end Friday night. Entering the third quarter, the Nitros had not scored a point on Arcadia in 14 quarters dating back to the fourth quarter of Glendale’s victory over the Apaches in 2014.
That streak came to an end on the final play of the third quarter. Against the Apache reserves, Nitros Chris Ibarra came out of the backfield on a wheel route. Glendale quarterback Trent Lousararian lofted the ball downfield, dropping it right into the arms of Ibarra, who sprinted away from the defense for a 78-yard touchdown to end the shutout streak.
“Chris really shows up every game,” said Harris, who in his first year. “We feed off of him. We see him working hard, we see him giving all he’s got and it is contagious.”
Arcadia (5-2, 4-0) jumped out early by returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown for the second week in a row. Apaches Rolandiss Whitener had the bouncing kick skip past him. But the senior retreated and scooped the ball up at the 1-yard line before blowing through the Glendale coverage for the touchdown 17 seconds in.
Arcadia kept the pedal down the rest of the half, at the end of which the Nitros trailed, 48-0.
In the first half, Glendale did not make a first down and was in the red yardage-wise. In contrast, the hosts scored touchdowns on all seven of their first-half possessions. All six scores that came on offense for the hosts which started on the Glendale side of the field.
On Arcadia’s first possession of the game, the third play saw quarterback Dylan Guerra connect with Ahmad Lipscomb on a crossing route that resulted in a 16-yard score. The ensuing Nitro drive lost 15 yards, giving Arcadia a short field after the punt. Deonte Bevel finished the 34-yard drive with a 12-yard rush up the middle.
The next Nitro drive lost five yards. Arcadia took over on the 45-yard line and two plays later Guerra connected with Oscar Aldridge, who was free behind the defense, for a 39-yard touchdown.
Glendale lost six yards, then punted. It only took one play for the Apaches to score again. This time it was Jabari Kindle catching a 34-yard scoring pass from Guerra.
At that point, with 10 minutes left in the second, the officials used a running clock. Despite that, Arcadia soon got the ball back and again scored with one play when Guerra found Dylan Wright for a 47-yard touchdown.
Apaches Noah Cabrera then intercepted Lousararian. The Arcadia offense made it three plays in a row resulting in a touchdown when Bevel picked his way through the Nitros for a 23-yard rushing touchdown, after which the half expired.
Guerra finished six of seven for 153 yards and four touchdowns. His last three throws resulted in scores and the junior did not play in the second half. Bevel finished with 50 yards in four carries with the final two going for touchdowns. He, as well as most of the Apache starters, also did not play in the second half.
Lousararian finished one of five for the 78 yards and the one interception. Ibarra was the only Nitro to finish with positive yardage on the ground, carrying the ball nine times for 19 yards.
“We’re trying to bring energy every week and show these guys it doesn’t matter if we win or lose; we approach the week exactly the same, with focus,” Harris said.