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The Tigers were frustrated again in their league opener as they lost momentum early on to the Monrovia Wildcats and just couldn’t overcome it leading to a painful 49-10 loss. Monrovia dominated from the start of a physical, high-speed game and never let up.
Beginning in the first quarter, Monrovia scored on a dramatic 66 yard run only to score another touchdown minutes later on a 30 yard run.
The Tigers came roaring back and scored their first touchdown on a 17 yard Justin Huff connection to wide receiver Sidney Luna-Long. The Tigers came back again with a drive that led to a successful field goal by Justin Huff. With Monrovia taking full advantage of Tiger mistakes, they scored again, making it 34-10 at the half.
Teams have been known to come out re-energized at the half and turn things around but that was not to be as the Wildcats continued to out-speed and out-maneuver the Tigers at every turn. With five minutes left in the third quarter, another Wildcats touchdown brought the score to 42-10 followed by a brutal 46 yard touchdown with less than a minute left in the 3rd bringing the final score to 49-10.
The Tigers were plagued by injury with many offensive players out and even quarterback Huff having to leave the game in the second half with a leg injury.
Said Head Coach Jeff Chi, “you have to give credit to Monrovia; they had some athletes on that team we just couldn’t contain, very speedy guys. We have to be ready for that because every team has one of those so we have to do a better job if we want to go further in the playoffs.”
To move on from a loss like this, Chi advises, “we have to have short term memory and say alright, we made a mistake, we didn’t play well. Let’s fix that. We’ll have game plans and move forward with it.”
With Temple City coming up Chi said, “they’re a team we can compete with and hopefully we’ll come out on top next week. They are a team that is similar to us; power football, running the ball, solid defense. They have improved tremendously since last year so it’s not going to be an easy game. We have to be ready for a physical contest. It’s now or never.”
SPHS Tigers will take on Temple City Rams at Temple City Friday, October 13, 7pm
