The Gladiator Report
The La Cañada Gladiator teams faced off against the Temple City Rams last weekend in several displays of skill and teamwork. The Midget team played the Claremont Wolfpack in an equally impressive performance on the field.
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JR. GREMLIN CARDINAL
The La Cañada Gladiator Cardinal team arrived in Temple City ready to play the Rams last Sunday morning. The offense drove the ball effectively behind quarterbacks Noah Kim and Andrew VanGinkel.
The offensive line of Julian Martinez, Connor McGoldrick, Ian Goodstein , Kyle Ramirez, Jake George, Henry Alvarez, Miles Haxton, and Collin Saydah had a near perfect game, keeping the Rams well behind the line of scrimmage and opening up large holes for running backs Will McConnell, Bobby Gazmarian, Kudzai Kachingwe and Myles Webb. Both Gazmarian and Webb had impressive touchdown runs. Quarterback Kim also scored on the receiving end of a trick pass-play.
Defensively, the Gladiators were the immovable obstruction allowing only one big play the entire game. The Rams were forced to punt on all other possessions. Standout defensive back Jake George had two pass deflections and a near interception.
Dylan McGoldrick, Carson Oakland and Tom McConnell also played impressively in the defensive backfield. The defensive lineman were again impressive this game with backfield sacks by Martinez, VanGinkel and Connor McGoldrick. Representing the linebackers and always around the ball was Will McConnell.
Players of the game were Noah Kim and Kudzai Kachingwe. Last week’s players of the game were Myles Webb and Connor McGoldrick. Great job, Gladiators.
Next up for the Cardinal team are the Pico Rivera Dons next Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. at La Cañada High School.
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GREMLINS
The La Cañada Gladiator Gremlin team improved to 2-0 with a convincing 27-6 defeat of the always-tough Temple City Rams Sunday morning at Temple City High School. The Gladiators were led on offense by running back Joey McClure who scored two touchdowns. Jax Jacinto and John Stephens also scored touchdowns.
Nick McConnell, Christopher Basso,Charlie Bednar, Ross Niederhaus and Sam Brown also gained yardage with the help of center Mason Gilmour, and the offensive line of Dominic Aguilar, Alex Espinosa, Matthew Gilmour, Skyler Payne, Kyle Tavizon, Gregory Stupakis, Thomas Lund, John Monroe and James Taylor. Quarterback Kyle Cheung also played a great game.
On the other side of the ball, the defensive line of Kyle Tavizon, Daivon Grayson, Max Burcher, Tanner Costi, Alex Espinosa, Wesley Hovanesian, Brett Gangi, Austin Willis, Matthew Wehrle, Drake Barron and Sam Unruh played exceptionally well. Linebackers Thomas Stea, Joey McClure, Nick McConnell and Christopher Basso proved to be a mighty force. Safeties Kyle Cheung and Charlie Bednar were instrumental in the defensive attack also.
Next up for the Gremlins are the tough Arcadia Indians this Saturday at La Cañada High School.
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JUNIOR PEE WEE
The Gladiator Junior Pee Wee team got on track with a nail-biting 13-7 win against a tough Temple City Ram team Sunday morning at Temple City High School. The Gladiators are now 1-1. The entire Gladiator team played well, particularly the offensive line including Daniel Stayton, Evan Sillas, Jack McCloskey, Isaiah Nakama, Hunter Trowbridge, Sean Davitt, and Joey Vasquez.
Their hard work sprung Connor VanGinkel free on several long gains, including a 60-yard touchdown run. Jeremiah Martin also had 15-yard touchdown run behind solid blocking. All in all the offense worked well together in the victory.
The defense had a huge game and held the Rams to a single score. Stand-outplays were made by Jacob Carter, Anthony Parada, Tyler Laskey, Ryan Rubendall and Thulani Kachingwe. Kachingwe had two interceptions to stop Ram drives deep in Gladiator territory. As with the offense, the defense worked well together as a team and showed a huge improvement from last week.
All of the Junior Pee Wee coaches are very proud of their players and the hard work they are putting into the season. The Pee Wee team consists of mostly new players, but this is not stopping them from working together as a class team. The team is looking forward to another win next Saturday against the Arcadia Indians.
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PEE WEE
On Sunday afternoon, the Gladiator Pee Wee team lost a close game 7-0 to the Temple City Rams at Temple City High School. The Gladiators are now 0-1-1. The Gladiators played hard, but the Rams squeezed out a touchdown in the last two minutes of the game.
The Gladiators kept the hard-charging Ram offense in check with the hard hitting play of Daniel “Mad Man” Del Valle and the stout inside play of middle linebacker Tyler “T-Rex” Riggs. None of this shut-down defense would have been possible without the constant barrage of Devon Willis, Brock Watkins, Adam Fazzi, Joshua Riggs, Joshua Silverman, Brodie Felkel, and Zach Washington. Michael Breen made a clutch interception on the Gladiator 20-yard line, thwarting a Ram drive to score.
The Gladiators started the game driving the ball on off tackle and sweep plays. Shane Skelton and Josh Riggs led with hard running, and the holes were opened-up by Ben Strockis, Lucas Drill, Garrett Brooks, Daniel Del Valle, Michael Kobeissi, Philip Kwak, and Zachery Villegas.
Paul Gandara returned a punt for 50 yards, Will Richardson caught a pass for about 15 yards and Ty Gangi rumbled for 10 yards on an inside run. However, the Gladiator offense could just not get on track due to costly penalties, turnovers and a strong Ram defense. Next Saturday, La Cañada Pee Wees face the Arcadia Indians at La Cañada High School at 3:00 p.m.
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MIDGET
The Gladiator Midgets defeated the Claremont Wolfpack 32-0 at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles this past Sunday morning with both a powerful offensive and defensive display. The Gladiators are now 2-0.
The offense featured the elusive running of Bercut Smith coupled with the power running combination of Griffin Longo and Ryan McAleenan. In their first possession, the offensive line of Adam Lieskovsky, Alex Duplessis, Connor Magallanes, Luis Flores, Mike Naoumovitch, and Josh Ehrenberg, along with lead blocks from Longo and McAleenan, cleared the way for Bercut Smith and the Gladiators first touchdown. Later in the first half, a Claremont punt was fielded at full speed by Austin Logan, who outran the defense to the end zone for the Gladiators’ second touchdown.
The second half was marked by a strong contribution from the passing game highlighted by a long pass and run play from Alex Slaught to Angelo Mets and capped by a touchdown pass from Slaught to Kevin Ernst. The Gladiators next offensive series featured power blocking by Bobby Becera, Taylor Grande and Noah Stubblefield upfront, and Kevin Stoner at fullback. Griffin Longo finished the drive by bulling into the end zone with the Gladiators fourth touchdown. After a few false starts, Kyle Herron kicked a 29 yard extra point, perhaps the longest point-after-touchdown in Gladiator history. McAleenan scored the final Gladiator touchdown on a seventeen yard burst up the middle. Throughout the touchdown drives, there was consistent outstanding blocking from Zack George, Shane Tierney and Harrison Simblett.
The defense also performed at a high level throughout the game anchored by exceptional linebacking from McAleenan, Longo, Austin Logan and Bercut Smith. They were aided by solid defensive line play by Joey Lemchen, Shane Tierney, Zack George, Mack Strockis, Ryan Payer and Anthony Kerr, and excellent coverage in the defensive secondary by Nick McMenamin, Jordan Johannes, Nick Prince and Gabe Villalobos.
Next up for the Gladiator Midgets are the Arcadia Indians, this Saturday night at La Cañada High School at 7:00 p.m.
Game reports submitted by Kevin Lacey, president of the La Cañada Gladiators, with reports by the Gladiator coaching staff.