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Plan A and B are no longer in play, so South Pasadena High football coach Jeff Chi is riding on the hopes that Plan C will be good enough to get the Tigers past visiting Eastside in their third game of the preseason.
With the Tigers’ top two quarterbacks out of action, Chi will go with senior Jayden Gallego Friday night at 7 p.m. as South Pasadena hopes to rebound from a resounding 59-6 loss to El Monte last week and come away with its second win of the year against the team from Lancaster.
The projected starter at the beginning of summer drills was Justin Huff, but he hasn’t played a down at the position this season since suffering a knee injury in a wake boarding accident earlier in July. His backup, Samuel Luna-Long, was called on to open the season against Mountain View and the junior signal caller was impressive, connecting on 5 of 7 passes for 156 yards and three touchdowns to Ivan Estrada in the 35-14 win. Luna-Long suffered a slight concussion in last week’s one-sided loss to the Lions and due to California Interscholastic Federation protocol, must sit out this week’s contest against (1-1) Eastside, which is coming off a 32-7 victory over Bernstein last week following a season-opening 42-6 loss to Nordoff.
Gallego, who normally plays linebacker and wide receiver, came into last week’s contest with just under 11 minutes left in the third quarter after Luna-Long went down with the Tigers trailing El Monte 52-0. Recognizing it was Gallego’s first live game action at the position, Tiger coaches toned down the playbook, not asking him to throw a pass. He ran for 8 yards on one play and eased into the offense by handing off the ball to a collection of running backs.
“Jayden went in and took control of the offense and did a pretty good job,” said Chi. “I’m very proud in how he was able to contribute. We’re putting in a little more offensively this week, telling him to visualize the play before snapping the ball and to stay calm.”
The latter might be Gallego’s toughest assignment, saying, “yes, a little bit,” when asked if he was nervous about guiding the Tigers’ offense this week. “It’s a little stressful because I have little experience. I’m just working through it as much as I can. I’m hoping to do well enough to lead us to a win.”
To prepare for the Friday night lights and the excitement of the Tigers’ second home game, Gallego has been carrying around an 8 by 11 sheet of paper full of offensive plays, taking every opportunity to learn them. It’s his personal cram course on Tigers’ football.
Chi says the game plan is simple enough that his quarterback with little experience should be able to pick it up. “He’s learning more and more everyday,” he said of Friday’s game. “He’ll be fine.”
The Tigers’ coach said his club must have a short term memory to put last week’s defeat “behind them, get better, more competitive, mentally focused and ready to play the next game. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We have to move forward.”
The Tigers will be forced to move forward with a banged up roster as Chi estimates some eight players could be out or see limited action as a result of injuries in the first two games.
“While we’ve lost some players, it gives others an opportunity to step up and play a role in helping us win,” Chi said. “From what I can see on tape, Eastside has its share of injuries, too. It will be a good test for our guys.”
