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It was Jason Hong’s night at Friday’s CIF football clash between South Pasadena and visiting Yucca Valley.
The versatile Tiger running back ran rampant through the vaunted Trojans defense that held many of their opponents scoreless. Hong plowed for huge chunks of yardage on all of the Tiger scoring drives and was the key factor in the team’s 43-35 win over Yucca Valley.
Another element in the victory was the Tiger’s defense ability to contain the Trojans high scoring offense most notably their running backs who usually gained more than 100 yards per game against previous opponents.
South Pasadena started the game by taking the opening kickoff and driving for the game’s first score, aided by Hong’s yardage. The Trojans reciprocated by scoring on a long pass to even the score and took their only lead on their next series after a Tiger turnover.
After that, it was all South Pasadena as they took a 33-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.
In the second half, both teams went back and forth with Yucca Valley countering South Pasadena scores with one of their own.
The game ended with the Tigers near the Trojans goal line, but coach Jeff Chi elected to go to victory formation and run out the clock rather than run up the score.
With the 43-35 win, the Tigers advance to the next round of the championship playoffs against St. Margaret’s Episcopal School in San Juan Capistrano. It will be the second consecutive year they will have advanced to the next round.
