His message has been clear from the start, South Pasadena High has what it takes to defend its Rio Hondo League football championship this year.
“We have to control what we can control and can’t worry about anybody else,” insisted Tigers’ coach Jeff Chi. “If we continue to practice hard to play hard during games I think we’ll be okay.”
Let’s just say South Pasadena is more than okay. The first step to another crown was achieved Friday night as the Tigers took care of business at home in a 55-7 rout over Pasadena Poly. With the victory, South Pasadena improved to 4-2 overall, 1-0 in league on the season while the Panthers are now 3-3, 0-1.
The Tigers jumped out to a 13-0 lead after the first period, outscored Pasadena Poly 14-7 in the second to take a commanding lead at the break, and shutout the Panthers the rest of the way while scoring 21 points in the third quarter and 7 more in the fourth.
“Great way to start to start off the Rio Hondo league for the Tigers,” said Chi. “Our rushing attack helped set the tone and we were able to play action pass off that for a couple of touchdowns.”
The Tigers got on the board first with seven minutes gone in the first quarter on a 9-yard run by Trey Freking. Following a South Pasadena interception, it didn’t take long for the Tigers to put their second touchdown on the board as David Ortega picked up the final two yards with 30 seconds remaining in the first period. A rare miss on the PAT made it 13-0 after one quarter.
Pasadena Poly closed the gap with a TD on the ground with 10 minutes left to play in the second period, making it 13-7, but on the Tigers next possession Ortega was back in the end zone for his second touchdown on the night, pulling South Pasadena ahead 20-7 with 8 minutes remaining in the quarter.
South Pasadena scored again just before the half when James Dowd, the Tigers’ towering senior 6-6 receiver, hauled in a 14-yard scoring pass from sophomore quarterback Andrew Nott, giving his team a 20-point lead.
Nott’s aerial show continued early in the third quarter when he connected on a 45-yarder to Jordan Rodgers, putting South Pasadena comfortably ahead 34-7. With three minutes to go in the period, the Tigers increased their lead to 41-7 on a 9-yard run by David Eisenberg.
The pounding continued as Eisenberg scored again on the ground, this time from 25 yards out with 30 seconds before the end of the third quarter, the Tigers now rolling 48-7.
South Pasadena’s Kevin Camarillo capped the scoring at the two-minute mark of the fourth quarter on a 9-yard touchdown.
Lorcan Swift, near perfect on the night, kicked seven extra points for South Pasadena, building on his reputation as being one of the stronger kickers in the area.
With the Tigers wide margin of victory, plenty of players saw action in this one. Nott finished the night completing 8 of 12 his passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Freking picked up 138 yards on 17 carries and one TD, while Ortega gained 57 yards, packing the ball eight times to go with his two scores. Eisenberg carried five times, picked up 60 yards on the ground and had two touchdowns. Rodgers had 66 yards in receptions on a pair of catches while Dowd hauled in three for 52 more and Freking pulled in two for 23.
Ahead of the game, Chi noted: “If we play our game, we should be okay. We just need to eliminate our mistakes and do our job the right way. We tell our kids all the time that we can’t take any team lightly.”
Taking advantage of a bye week, The Tigers’ coach had a chance to give his players a two-week breather from competition after South Pasadena knocked off Alhambra 35-12 in their final non-league game back on September 20.
Over that stretch, the message coming from coaches was the team is in a “pretty good position to win another league title,” said Chi, “The players continued to work hard to stay in shape, make sure they knew their assignments, only get better, not sloppy.”
The “only get better” team showed up Friday night as the Tigers dominated from the start.
Furthering that effort, the Tigers’ coach said a constant reminder of “what our goal is as a team, how we plan to get there and achieve it” has been a spirited cry since day one.
The timing of the bye couldn’t have come at a better, Chi noting: “A lot of our guys who were banged up are now healthy and ready to play. It’s especially good to see the younger guys on the team get better and better each week.”
Along with the lopsided win, there was plenty of fun and excitement surrounding the game as it was Color Day on campus, an annual occurrence when students are encouraged to dress up in the school’s colors, wearing a variety costumes while decked out in nothing but orange and black. A halftime light show dazzled a huge crowd nearly filling Ray Solari Stadium, adding significantly to the festivities and the Tiger Marching Band performed an impressive competition number. And of course SPHS Pep kept the crowd cheering.
The road to a Rio Hondo League championship only get tougher from here as the Tigers travel to face rival San Marino on October 11, then are home for back-to-back games against Monrovia and Temple City on October 17 and October 25, respectively, before heading to La Cañada November 1 to finish the regular season. All games start at 7 p.m.
South Pasadena shared the title with Monrovia and San Marino a year ago, Chi’s club going 9-2 overall, 4-1 in league, before ending its season with a first round CIF loss to Los Osos.
“It seems like it’s getting tougher and tougher every year,” said Chi when asked how difficult is it to win the league crown. “You’ve got San Marino, La Canada, Monrovia among the top, then Temple City is getting better while Poly is struggling a little but, but will give you a good game. We’re all kind of grouped together to win the league title, so it’s not going to be an easy task this year.”
And where does he see his own team in the mix? “I think we’re heading in the right direction,” said Chi. “Hopefully it will be good enough to win a league title.”
