Football:
Written by John Honell
The San Dimas High School football team bent, but wouldn’t break on Friday night.
The fourth-seeded Saints scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to beat West Covina, 20-6, in the opening round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 9 playoffs.
Even though the schools are only 10 miles apart, it was the first meeting between the two programs since San Dimas was built in 1970.
The Saints scored first, taking the opening kickoff to the Bulldogs 13-yard line, but had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Mathias Uribe with 8:08 left in the first quarter.
“He’s a great kicker,” Saints coach Mark Holman said. “We’re fortunate to have a great kicker. Someone is going to scoop him up soon.”
Uribe added a 29-yard field goal with 7:21 left in the first half to give the Saints a 6-3 lead at the break.
The Bulldogs, making their first playoff appearance since 2016, dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage in the first half, but kept shooting themselves in the foot when they got into to the red zone.
They had three penalties on their opening drive, two of them inside the Saints 10-yard line, and had to settle for a 30-yard field goal by Saeed Arellano on the first play of the second quarter.
“They were much more disciplined than we were,” Bulldogs coach Mike Maggiore said. “We drove the ball then turned it over a couple of times. We made mistake after mistake. They played a much more mistake-free game.”
The Bulldogs held the Saints to 20 yards rushing in the first half and only the strong right arm of Teyondre Coleman let the Saints get close enough for Uribe to kick his two field goals.
“They’re massive up front,” Holman said. “This was a team win. In the trenches out defense held them to six points and that’s a great game.”
The Bulldogs tied the game with 6:50 left in the third quarter on a 40-yard field goal by Arellano, but the Saints took over from there.
The second half was almost a mirror image of the first, with the Saints getting two sacks, recovering a fumble and holding the Bulldogs to only 60 yards of total offense.
San Dimas took the kickoff after Arellano’s field goal and marched 73 yards in 15 plays, and capped the drive with a 2-yard quarterback sneak by Coleman.
The Bulldogs then went three-and-out when the Saints’ Donovan Morrison sacked quarterback Steven De Luna on his own 14-yard line.
San Dimas then turned the ball over to senior Jesse Samec, who put the game out of reach with an 18-yard run over left tackle.
Samec carried the ball 19 times for 69 yards and one touchdown to lead the Saints rushing game.
“T(Coleman) did a great job,” Holman said. “And how about Decker (Degraaf) coming through. He’s our x-factor in the air.”
Coleman completed seven of 11 passes for 122 yards.
Up next: The Saints will host St. Margaret’s on Friday.
The Tartans (8-4) claimed a 48-6, first-round victory over visitng Hueneme.
Box Score:
WC: 0-3-3-0-(6)
SD: 3-3-0-14-(20)
Records: West Covina (6-6); San Dimas (9-3)
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