Photos by Susan Coulter & game info & stats by Harry Joe
Football:
A few weeks before the 2022 season kicked off, this reporter met up with RHP coach Mark Carson, and his two-way star, Ryan McCulloch, at the Arcadia school.
Both Carson and McCulloch acknowledged the loss of several key players that graduated in 2022, and that instead of blowing teams out as they had been accustomed to, the Kares would be in a number of competitive games.
And if week one is any indication, they were right.
RHP took a nine-point lead into the half and claimed a 29-6 victory.
Don’t get this wrong, RHP won by a comfortable margin, it’s just not the 50-point blowouts that stacked up week after week in recent years.
McCulloch scored on TD runs of six and 43 yards.
McCulloch carried the ball 13 times for 178 yards, and that was four more than what nine El Monte backs combined to gain in Friday’s nonleague contest.
RHP had a 349-234 advantage in total offense, including a 293-174 disparity in rushing yards.
Noah Penunuri carried the ball 11 times for 79 yards, and he scored on a 2-point conversion run to give the Kares an 8-0 lead at 5:16 of the first quarter.
Anthony Hernandez scored on a 2-yard run to give RHP a 15-0 lead.
And Armando Carbajal capped the Kares scoring with a 3-yard TD run with 3:41 to play in the game.
Joshua Juarez led the El Monte rushing attack with 88 yards on 10 carries.
Saul Sanchez carried the ball eight times for 56 yards.
The Lions lone score came on a Jonathan Lopez 13-yard rushing TD halfway through the third quarter.
RHP had a 26-22 advantage (minutes) in the time of possession battle.
Nate Curtis had one catch for 29 yards.
Anthony Hernandez had two receptions for 27 yards, and he picked off a pass on defense.
Joshua Taflinger led the Kares with 7.5 tackles and that included an interception.
McCulloch had 6.5 tackles and he had both of RHP’s sacks.
Penunuri had six tackles to help secure win No. 1 for Rio Hondo Prep.
Up next: RHP will host Linfield Christian on Thursday night.
The Lions are 1-0 after a 41-7 victory over Loara.
And Linfield Christian will play tonight (Saturday, August 27th) against visiting Pacifica.
To view a six-pic photo gallery by Susan Coulter, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
Quotable:
RHP coach, Mark Carson: “It was a good first win for a young team. Josh Taflinger set the tone with an interception, Anthony Hernandez also had a big pick. Our freshmen stood out. Penunuri, Gavia played both ways and were really good, and Ryan (McCulloch) was Ryan, making plays all over the field.”
Box Score:
EM: 0-0-6-0-(6)
RHP: 8-7-7-7-(29)
Scoring:
RHP: Ryan McCulloch 6 run (Noah Penunuri run)
RHP: Anthony Hernandez 2 run (Marco Chan kick)
EM: Jonathan Lopez 13 runs (run failed)
RHP: Ryan McCulloch 43 run (Marco Chan kick)
RHP: Armando Carbajal 3 run (Alex Mustain kick)
Records: El Monte (0-2); Rio Hondo Prep (1-0)
Softball: To view a photo gallery by Conrad Hunziker III, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook Although its 2024 season came to an end on Saturday in a CIF-SS Division 7 semifinal loss (8-6) to Eastside, Muir made gigantic progress and they should be celebrated. Their 21 wins is the program’s most in at […]
Baseball: Chino Hills earned its spot in this coming Tuesday’s CIF-SS Division 5 semifinal round. The Huskies rode the arms of Brody Buoncristiani and Andrew Baldomino to a 7-0 victory over their visitors from Montebello. Buoncristiani went 5 1/3 scoreless innings and he allowed three hits. Buoncristiani issued a pair of walks and struck out […]
Girls Athlete of the Week: Alyssa Galindo and the Etiwanda softball program had a memorable and highly successful week in the CIF-SS Division 3 playoffs. The Eagles went 3-0, including wins in the second round (6-0 at La Canada), quarterfinal (3-0 over Redondo Union) and semifinal rounds (5-1 at West Torrance) to earn a spot […]
Boys Athlete of the Week: Gabriel Lopez had almost zero room for error on Friday. The Arcadia High School lefty was facing the No. 1 seed and the eighth-ranked team in the state (MaxPreps) in the quarterfinal round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs. The AHS senior would go the distance to defeat Westlake, 2-1, […]
Photos by Conrad Hunziker III Softball: The Muir softball program had a three-run lead and they were six outs away from a trip to the CIF-SS Division 7 championship game. But Eastside High of Lancaster scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning, and they got two more in the seventh to edge […]
Softball: No biggie. All Etiwanda needed to do to earn a spot in next weekend’s CIF-SS Division 3 championship game was to knock off top-seeded West Torrance on the Warriors home field. Alyssa Galindo secured that spot for her girls after a complete-game effort on Saturday. Galindo allowed one run on seven hits to the […]
Photos by Conrad Hunziker III & video highlights from Steve Ramirez Baseball: Village Christian took all the drama out of Friday’s CIF-SS Division 6 quarterfinal at West Covina very early. The Crusaders scored five runs in the top of the first inning, and they cruised to a 7-1 victory over the Bulldogs. VCHS out-hit WCHS, […]
Baseball: St. Francis is now just one win away from playing for a CIF-SS Division 4 championship. It would be the first time since 2006 since the Golden Knights made a title-game appearance. On Friday, the Golden Knights defeated their visitors from Paraclete, 4-1, in a quarterfinal round game at the Glendale Sports Complex. Lucas […]
Thanks to Arcadia baseball for this photo Baseball: Talk about a pitchers’ duel. Arcadia’s Gabriel Lopez narrowly bested Westlake’s Dylan Volantis on Friday. Lopez went all seven innings, and he allowed one run on two hits. He issued one walk and struck out 11 Warriors’ batters. Nolan Johnson singled in the top of the fourth […]
