by David Winchell

In a Mission Valley League game pitting two squads looking for their first league victory of 2011. The Rosemead Panthers having lost to El Monte in week one and the Gabrielino Eagles losing to South El Monte were both thirsting for a win in week two. The Panthers completed a 24-6 win with a defense that allowed less than 100 yards in offense to dominate the Eagles.

The game opened with both teams exchanging punts until the Panthers crafted a 67 yard, 10 play scoring drive culminating in a 6 yard touchdown run by Christian Garcia. Gabrielino was continually frustrated on offense as with 5:01 to go in the second half, Rosemead connected with a 34 yard field goal extended the lead 10-0. The ensuing onsides kickoff was recovered by Rosemead but on the first play from scrimmage, Eagle Albert Garcia intercepted a pass. The Gabrielino offense was forced to punt the ball back to the Panthers, but Eagle Mark Winchell recovered the muffed punt at the Panther 10 yard line. Two plays later, Lorenzo Mena rumbled in from 5 yards out. The PAT was blocked leaving the score 10-6 going into halftime.

The Panthers took the kickoff starting the third quarter and put their ground game into effect and did so successfully. The 21 play, 86 yard drive took up 9:40 seconds of the third quarter and put a dagger into the heart of the Eagles. The drive consisted of 20 runs, 14 by Matt Eddy, gave the Panthers a 17-6 lead and broke the spirit of Gabrielino. Eddy, the Panthers leading rusher, had to leave with an injured knee early in the first quarter. He ended the game with 117 yards rushing in 25 carries. Rosemead capped the scoring with a 34 yard run by Garcia with 7:30 left in the fourth. Using the running game successfully, Rosemead ran 64 offensive plays, ,compared to Gabrielino’s 33.

Next week Gabrielino will travel to face El Monte (5-2, 2-0 in league) looking for their first league win. El Monte has defeated Rosemead and Mountain View and share first place with Arroyo. Last year Arroyo beat Gabrielino 31-19 at GHS.

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