At long last, history has been made, glory restored, the Tigers have finally won it all!
Forty-eight years had passed since the last time South Pasadena High won a Rio Hondo League title outright in football as the Tigers rolled to a 28-10 over La Cañada Friday night in the regular season finale.
Over that time, so much has happened, from the fall of the Berlin Wall, September 11 terrorist attacks, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the evolution of the internet, the global financial crisis of 2008, the COVID-19 pandemic and so much more.
Indeed, a lot has taken place around the globe in the nearly five decades since the Tigers celebrated a league crown all by themselves back in 1976.
“It’s unreal,” said Tigers coach Jeff Chi when it was all over. “I’m very proud of our guys on how they prepared for this game, and how the worked and got better and better throughout the year. Gelling as a team, I’m just happy for the kids. We’re just going to celebrate and enjoy the victory.”
In winning it all, the Tigers sit atop the league standings at 5-0, 8-2 overall, ahead of their closest pursuers – Monrovia 4-1, 8-2, and La Canada, now 3-2, 8-2, followed by Temple City, San Marino and Pasadena Poly. On Sunday, South Pasadena will find out who it plays in the first round of the CIF playoffs starting November 8.
“Hopefully, we’ll get some more wins in the next couple of weeks and extend our season a bit,” Chi said, explaining his club was dialed in to perform at its highest level against the Spartans. As much as he wanted to treat its build up as just another game, he couldn’t hide the fact at its conclusion it was by far the Tigers biggest of the year.
Aware of the hype surrounding its importance, Chi did his best to gear practice sessions like it was a normal week. “We didn’t want to play out of our comfort zone, making sure the kids were comfortable and managed it well,” he said.
But, yes, it was a huge game. “The kids didn’t need any additional pressure,” added the coach. “We tried to focus on, ‘hey, this is what you do best. This is what you need to do.’ We tried to keep it as simple as possible.”
La Cañada held a 7-0 first quarter lead on a 5-yard run by quarterback Joe Bell, the score set up after long passes to Sohan Garg and Quest Swan.
The Tigers answered on a 1-yard touchdown carry by Rick Matsuda with eight minutes left in the second quarter to tie it.
The Spartans moved the ball inside the South Pasadena red zone in the closing minutes of the first half, only to miss a field goal with 30 seconds left, the score locked 7-7 at the break.
South Pasadena got on the board first in the third period on quarterback Andrew Nott’s 35-yard scoring pass to Jordan Rodgers at the eight minute mark, making it 14-7. Four minutes later, La Canada booted a 40-yard field goal, bringing it to 14-10.
The Tigers scored twice in the fourth quarter, increasing its lead to 21-10, on a two-yard run by Matsuda, his second on the night, with six minutes left and Trey Freking took it in on the ground from 50 yards out at the three-minute mark to wrap up South Pasadena’s historic win.
La Canada came out with a defensive front not seen all year designed to slow down the Tigers potent running game. “They did a pretty good job of it in the first half,” Chi said. “We made some adjustments going into the second half and were able to run the ball effectively. I have to hand it to our offensive line. They made the adjustments and made the plays go. Trey’s run at the end was very impressive and made it exciting.”
Before the season, Chi knew the two nonleague games the Tigers lost – 28-0 to Schurr and 21-7 to Golden Valley – were going to be tough to win, but once league play started if they got past San Marino and Monrovia his team might be playing for the championship.
After putting together a game plan, studying his opponent on tape, Chi said he felt confident, having trust in his players and the coaches, saying the team was ready to go.
“It kind of fell into place the way we saw it,” said the coach, looking back on the season. “We never dwelled on winning a number of games in a row. We were just trying to win the next game, and the next one after that. That’s the approach we’ve been taking, so obviously finishing 4-1 would be great, but 5-0 would be exceptionally better.”
Chi and his coaches emphasized to Tiger players ahead of Friday night’s kickoff that they controlled their own destiny and didn’t need another team to lose for them to claim the championship. One more win was the mantra, and with it, the title would be in the books.
“We told the kids, ‘Hey, we don’t have any pressure here,’ he explained. “The worst-case scenario is we’d be tied for first. We kept telling them, ‘If we win, we’ll be league champions by ourselves. Let’s go out and see what we are made of and play your best game possible.”
Over the long haul of a 10-game season, Chi learned a lot about his team’s make up, questioning its toughness at the outset. “A lot of the kids were young and weren’t really battle tested at the varsity level, so that was a concern we had,” he said. “But as the season went on, playing tough teams like Schurr and Golden Valley, Monrovia – physical games – our guys never gave up. That showed me a lot of character on their part. So, that was very pleasing to see.”
After watching his club matchup against Schurr and Golden Valley, Chi had a new appreciation, recognizing it was a special group, saying: “Hey, they’re pretty tough. It was just a matter of us playing as a unit, gelling and coming together as a team.”
A year ago, the Tigers shared the championship with both Monrovia and San Marino, ending the season with a 9-2 record and 4-1 slate before falling to Los Osos 10-7 in the first round of the CIF playoffs. It was at that point, noted Chi, that his team made it a goal to improve on the situation this time around, secure the league title all by itself and go deeper in the playoffs.
The first of those objectives have been met, now the Tigers second season is about to begin as they will find out Sunday who they’ll be matched up with next week when CIF action gets underway.
“It has been a great year,” said Chi, about the Tigers effort in winning it all. “It’s a huge sacrifice on their part. They could have been home sleeping, playing video games, hanging out with friends. But they chose to be on the football field, sacrificing their time during the week, sometimes on weekends, exerting themselves in the weight room to help make us better. I do appreciate what they have put into this program, making a difference in a positive and fun way.”
And now, South Pasadena is on top of world – the Rio Hondo League’s best – finally!
“And I’m glad to be a part of it,” said Chi, soaking it all in.
