Two wins and they’re in is the message this week from South Pasadena High football coach Jeff Chi as his team looks to claim the Rio Hondo League title with a pair of victories down the stretch to wind up the regular season.
The Tigers, 6-2 overall, are unbeaten in league play at 3-0 and riding a four game winning streak as they close out the 2024 campaign with a home game against Temple City, also 6-2, 1-2, on Friday, before a travel date to La Cañada, undefeated at 8-0, 3-0, on November 1. Kickoff for both encounters is set for 7 p.m.
South Pasadena started its string of victories against Alhambra in the final week of non-league action when the Tigers came away with a 35-12 victory. Once league play got underway in early October, the Tigers have been on a tear, picking up wins over Pasadena Poly (55-7), San Marino (24-17) and Monrovia (36-27). It marked the second year South Pasadena has beaten the Wildcats, a team always in the conversation when it comes to winning league championships.
Temple City has struggled to put points on the board against league opponents, but Chi insists his club can’t take anyone lightly. The Rams opened with a 35-0 loss to La Cañada and followed that up getting pounded by Monrovia 49-0 before a narrow 7-6 triumph over Pasadena Poly (3-5, 0-3) last week.
While South Pasadena is gearing up to play Temple City, in other Rio Hondo League contests, Monrovia takes on La Cañada Thursday night and San Marino (3-5, 0-3), faces Pasadena Poly Friday.
Controlling their own destiny, needing two victories to secure a title all by themselves, is the focus for the Tigers as they look to maintain their dominant running attack, and continue to make improvements on the passing side over the next two weeks, ahead of CIF action which gets underway Friday, November 8.
Ray Solari Stadium promises to be lively, electric and spirited as a huge homecoming crowd is expected for the final regular season home game. Adding to the energy level, the school is calling for a “Blackout,” in which every fan will receive a black pompom. It’s a little secret around these parts, the team’s colors are orange and black.
“We’ve got two important games coming up and, yes, we’d like to win them both,” said Chi, knowing to make that happen won’t be easy. “It would be nice. It’s something we’ve been talking about since the end of last year. The players are really buying into the fact that they are a good team. They feel really good about how they played against Monrovia last week. We haven’t beaten those guys back-to-back in years, and so that was a huge accomplishment to beat those guys.”
Last season after going 9-2, including 4-1 in league for a share of the league crown with Monrovia and San Marino, the Tigers made an early exit in the postseason, losing to Los Osos 30-27 in the first round of CIF.
With Trey Freking averaging 120.3 yards, to go with his 10 TDs on the ground, and teammate David Ortega with 87.5 and eight more scores this season, the Tigers are solid offensively. Chi likes the development of young sophomore quarterback Andrew Nott, who has completed 25 of 46 passes for 414 yards and thrown four touchdowns up to this point, and hopes to see continual progress in the passing game.
“That’s something we really want to work on during the next two games,” said the coach. “It’s something we need to improve as the playoffs are getting closer to us.”
Chi is especially pleased with his swarming defense, which hasn’t given up more than 27 points in a single ball game, that coming last week against the Wildcats.
“We know that if we do what we do best, executing on offense – taking care of the ball – and focusing on the defensive side, going 110 percent every play, that we will be okay,” Chi said. “We want to keep pushing forward and hopefully win the title. We told the guys, just do your job and ignore everything else. Just have to execute and control what you can control. Win the battle in front of you.”
