Manny Ayon, playing quarterback for the first time this year, ran for four touchdowns and passed for another to lead Roosevelt past Huntington Park, 35-7 in another Eastern League game. Ayon, who had scoring runs of 58, 15, 11 and 31 yards, had 147 yards on 11 carries. He also had a 20-yard scoring pass to Elgin Rosales.

The Rough Riders (4-1, 1-0) saw their three-TD lead trimmed to 21-7 when the Spartans (2-3, 0-1) got a third-quarter scoring run from Henri Echevarria (15 carries for 60 yards).

Christian Balbuena had nine solo tackles and Mauricio Maldonado had eight solos and an assist to lead the H.P. defense.

The Spartans host South East (1-3, 0-0) at 7 p.m. Friday.

Alexander Mendez had 10 solo tackles and an assist and Michael Gutierrez added two sacks to lead H.P. defensively.

Huntington Park hosts Manual Arts Friday.

Huntington Park (1-1) dedicated its new turf field with a 29-21 victory over Lincoln in a nonleague game.

Alexander Mendez had seven solo tackles and four assists and Christian Balbuena returned an interception 65 yards to lead the Spartan defensive effort.

By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 16.OCT.08
Though it didn’t result in a victory, Huntington Park High School’s approach to Jordan will serve as a model to the remainder of the Eastern League teams on the Bulldogs’ schedule.

Jordan provided just enough big plays to offset the time of possession advantage held by the Spartans and come away with a 44-27 victory that was tougher than the final score indicated.

Currently 2-3 overall and 1-0 in league, the Bulldogs visit Bell, 3-2, 0-2, Friday. The Eagles are reeling from a 44-3 loss to Roosevelt.

The Spartans, 3-2, 1-1, are at South Gate, 1-4, 0-1 Friday.

Though Huntington Park put together several time-consuming drives that kept the game in doubt until the final six minutes, Jordan offset that with touchdowns covering 88, 88, 81 and 41 yards. The Spartans held a 66-43 advantage in plays, yet the Bulldogs outgained them, 446-327.

James Boyd completed 20 of 31 passes for 363 yards and four touchdowns for Jordan. All four scoring passes and 284 of the yards were during a first half in which the Bulldogs were building a 26-7 lead.

Wide receiver Deshawn Beck also took a few snaps at quarterback and completed three of four for 93 yards and a touchdown.

“This win is huge because it’s over one of the premier teams in our league,” Jordan coach Elijah Asante said. “They were playing keepaway and we still scored 44 points.”

Asante, who earned his first road win over the Spartans in his six years at the Jordan helm, praised his coaching counterpart.

“Leroy Wilson is one of the best coaches I’ve ever gone against,” he said. “He has to be one of the five best coaches in the City (Section). His teams are always well coached.”

While Boyd had his usual solid effort at quarterback, the Bulldogs also got superior efforts from the wide receiver crew.

Delvon Purvis, a senior who is being looked at by USC, according to Asante, caught eight passes for 181 yards and three touchdowns, including an 81-yarder in the second quarter in which he turned a 10-yard outpattern into a streak down the sidelines.

Brandon Caldwell turned a similar pattern in the first period into an 88-yard scoring play. Caldwell had 155 yards on three catches.

Beck, who caught a one-yard scoring pass from Boyd just before the end of the half, returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown 19 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Then just after the Spartans had closed the gap to 32-27 by converting a halfback-pass to Eric Velazquez on fourth down for a score with 6:15 left, the Bulldogs struck with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Purvis. Eric Hunter’s five-yard run as time expired accounted for the final points.

On the big plays, Asante said, “We just took advantage of one-on-one mismatches.”

As for why it took so long to put the Spartans away, he said, “Their keep-away style prevented us from doing that. They rely on three-and-a-half yards per carry and don’t deviate from that. They wait for you to makes mistakes.”

Huntington Park led, 7-6 after one quarter thanks to a seven-minute, 75-yard drive that ended with Carlos Hernandez scoring on a one-yard run and Michael Ruiz kicking the extra point.

Arnie Murillo’s 41-yard scoring pass to Hector De La Rosa 50 seconds into the third quarter got the Spartans within 12 points of Jordan.

An interception by Ricardo Ramirez set up the next H.P. score, a two-yard run by Rios that closed the gap to 26-20.

The Spartans netted 226 yards on the ground with Velazquez gaining 100 on 15 carries. De La Rosa carried 13 times for 64 yards and caught three passes for 72. Murillo was 5-for-10 for 86 yards.

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Garfield (3-3, 2-0), the co-leader in the Eastern League race, knocked off South East, 28-14.

South East (1-5, 0-2), which visits co-leading Roosevelt (5-1, 2-0) Friday, has been pretty good offensively this year with quarterback Jonathan Reyes and running back Senen Carson giving the Jaguars good balance.

“They have a pretty good little passer and Senen Carson is probably the best running back in the league,” Roosevelt coach Javier Cid said. “They’ve been scoring a lot of points and every one of the games they’ve lost has been close, except for one.”

Reyes completed seven of 23 for 103 yards and Carson rushed for 47 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries against Garfield. Jorge Lopez caught three passes for 73 yards and stood out defensively with 10 solo tackles and two assists.

Cesar Gonzalez kicked a pair of field goals for the Jaguars.

Huntington Park High School's Eric Velazquez celebrates after catching a touchdown pass against Jordan.
- Photo by Gary McCarthy

Huntington Park High is one of the co-leaders in the Eastern League football race heading into Friday’s home game with Jordan.

But the Spartans (3-1 overall) had to do a highwire act last week to remain that way. After Jorge Rios’ 30-yard touchdown run gave them a 28-23 lead, the Spartans saw South East drive to the H.P. 15 in the closing seconds turning the ball over on downs.

They withstood a 28-carry, 189-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance from Senen Carson and 239 yards passing from Jonathan Reyes of South East to secure the win.

The defense faces another assault this week in Jordan (1-3), which is coming off a bye after losing a wild one to Mater Dei, 49-32 the previous week.

Jordan, the defending league champion, is led by quarterback/defensive end James Boyd, who leads the league in passing yards (1,349), tackles (56) and sacks (six). The USC-bound senior threw a state-record 73 passes for 409 yards and three touchdowns against Mater Dei.

In the other Eastern League games Friday, South East is at Garfield (2-3, 1-0) and Bell (3-1, 0-1) is at Roosevelt (4-1, 1-0). All have 7 p.m. starts.

Last Friday, Garfield crushed Bell, 35-0 and Roosevelt pounded South Gate, 32-13.

Garfield got a pair of touchdown passes from Patrick Vargas and scoring runs from Sergio Macedo and Franky Diaz against Bell.

Sophomore tailback Julian Leon (19 carries for 75 yards) and Antonio Williams (10 for 44) were Bell’s top offensive threats.

Defensively, Juan Lucero led the Eagles with four solo tackles and five assists.

Roosevelt piled up 550 yards of total offense in its rout of South Gate.

Jesse Diaz completed 18 of 30 for 226 yards and three scores and ran for 101 yards on eight carries to pace the Rough Riders.

South Gate quarterback Irving Villasenor completed 12 of 20 for 127 yards and a touchdown. Felipe Valdez rushed for 59 yards and caught four passes for 59, including the scoring play. Josue Valdez ran for a TD and had 56 yards on three carries.

Felipe Valdez had nine solo tackles and six assists to lead the Ram defense.