Young Monarchs gain from playoff experience

By ECS Staff
Updated: November 14, 2015

By Chris Davis
© East County Sports.com

CHULA VISTA (11-14-15) — The Castle Park Trojans came into Friday’s (Nov. 13) CIF-SDS first round playoff game in Division IV looking to make a statement, and they certainly did that, defeating Monte Vista 36-0.

Monarchs coach RON HAMAMOTO’s crew has had a tough go of it this year, “It was a struggle.”

Give it up though for seniors TRE OWENS, JACCOB JARDIM, JALONTAE JONES, CAMRYN BUTLER, JUAN PRECIADO, MATTHEW ORTIZ and FERNAN SANCHEZ for making sure that the team never quit.

Coach Hamamoto described the season as such, “We had injuries early that hurt us, but fundamentally we couldn’t get our consistency going.”

The playoff game was a consolidation of the entire season. In the first quarter, the Monarchs (2-9) fumbled on their first play from scrimmage. CastlePark (7-4) turned that into a 12-yard pass from Angelo Trujillo to Anthony Navarro. The two other passing touchdowns for Trujillo went to Charles Tolbert (74 and 43 yards).

“Their quarterback and receivers found our weakness,” Hamamoto stated.

Joining them in the scoring was Miguel Flores, who scored twice on the ground (10 and 13 yards) for the Trojans who will move on to play Bishop’s next week in the quarterfinals.

“Our problem all year was we didn’t have consistency all season,” Hamamoto emphasized.

Monte Vista sophomore QB Dennis Dahlin carries on Friday night.

Jardim had 68 yards on 14 carries in his final football game as a Monarch. Owens had 143 total yards (seven rushing, 93 receiving and 43 on kick returns).

“We only had eight seniors, so hopefully this was a growing moment for us,” Hamamoto said.