Cougars, Monarchs, Knights defeated
- Updated: August 27, 2021
Steele Canyon tackles a Madison ball carrier on Friday night. / P.J. Panebianco
2021 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
ROUNDUP
EastCountySports.com staff report
MADISON 22, STEELE CANYON 21 — The tough, physical battle came down to a pair of special teams plays.
The Madison Warhawks closed the contest with 10 unanswered points, including a go-ahead field goal. But when Steele Canyon attempted its own field goal – a 51-yarder – with 0:02 remaining, the attempt was blocked by Berrot Rankin, giving the visiting Warhawks a 22-21 decision over the Cougars in a battle of 0-1 ballclubs.
Down 21-12, Madison’s comeback started on a 31-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Reggie Johnson to receiver Luke Jackson to the right side near the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars responded with a touchdown pass of their own from Johnson to tie the game at 7-all.The Cougars took advantage of a punt snap that went over the kicker’s head to get great field position and turn it into a touchdown.
The Cougars scored the TD on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 on a quarterback sneak to make it 14-7, as sophomore Matthew Barton mashed low behind his line to get across.
The Cougars took a 21-7 lead on a fumble during a fourth-and-3 snap at the SC 28. Steele Canyon’s Davis Langfeldt picked up the ball and ran it back to the end zone for a 53-yard scoop-and-run score.
The Warhawks scored to close the score to 21-13 following a 51-yard touchdown pass. The PAT was blocked to keep SC’s lead at an important eight points.
Madison struck again on a deep ball in the third quarter for a 32-yard touchdown pass. A failed conversion left the margin at 21-19.
Jaden Dir, of Madison, kicked the go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter.
RANCHO BUENA VISTA 30, MONTE VISTA 6 — Aiden Robey rushed for 83 yards on 26 carries and scored the Monarchs’ touchdown but it was visiting Rancho Buena Vista that had a big rushing night against the Monarch defense, piling up 275 yards on the ground.
Rancho Buena Vista scored a touchdown on a 77-yard run and later extended the lead to 16-0 in the first half, thanks to the Monarchs.
The Longhorns, who improved to 2-0, had four takeaways, as well. Three of those came in the first half, including the first play from scrimmage, although RBV didn’t score.
Robey scored in the second half and the game was still manageable at the time for the Monarchs.
With the score at 22-6, the Longhorns added a touchdown on a 10-yard run.
“It was tough losing in front of our home crowd like that but we had a lot of missed assignments,” Robey said. We weren’t playing until the whistle. There were just a lot of crucial mistakes we made that we’ll need for next week. I tried to find holes and make the most out of my runs.”
The Monarchs recorded a sack in the first quarter and finished with four sacks on the night.
Alex Sauceda had a sack and an interception for Monte Vista.
Creg Cooper had one of the wrap-ups, as well.
It doesn’t seem to get any easier right now for Monte Vista.
The Monarchs will face Patrick Henry, a team that they had a reasonable advantage over recently which will now be a sure favorite when the Patriots come to Spring Valley next Friday. night.
SAN BERNARDINO 45, FOOTHILLS CHRISTIAN 10 – The Knights’ program is no stranger to 11-man football. But right now, Foothills Christian is suffering through a bit of a learning curve after returning to the game following several seasons of dominating at the 8-man level.
With such great success, it might figure that FCHS would successfully transition back to Division V football, but that hasn’t been the case in a pair of games so far this season.
Foothills Christian won Southern League titles with undefeated league records in 2010 and ’08.
The ’08 team – under head coach Steve Perdue – won a playoff game against Holtville before losing to Christian, 77-24.
The Cardinals rushed for 264 yards while throwing just three passes (all completions), and scored five touchdowns on the ground.
