Photos by Gwen Pointer
Football:
South Hills won its third consecutive game on Friday night.
The Huskies cruised to a 54-41 nonleague victory over visiting Don Lugo, and the game wasn’t anywhere near as close as the final score might indicate.
Over the last three weeks, the Huskies have victories over El Monte, Claremont and Don Lugo.
And over that stretch, South Hills has averaged 48 points per game.
The star on Friday night was a senior named Matt Moreno.
Moreno is a two-sport stud, who also shines for Darren Murphy’s baseball program, and he’s already committed to play baseball at Loyola Marymount in 2025.
But on Friday, it was all about football.
Moreno rushed for 260 yards on 25 carries.
He had a career night with TD runs of 1, 21, 7, 35, 4 and 2 yards.
South Hills blocked the first two Don Lugo punts and turned them into 14 points.
After a Moreno TD run, Sebastian Morinaga picked up the second blocked punt and brought it back 10 yards, and the lead grew to 14-0.
Landon Hansen also had a 6-yard TD run for SHHS.
On a pretty cool sidenote, Sean Jones, who played in his first high school football game on Friday, picked off a pass for the Huskies defense.
And speaking of that defense, South Hills surrendered 28 first-half points.
But at the half, the Huskies made some adjustments, and they were able to hold the Conquistadores scoreless until there was just 1:22 to play.
The first of two scores came on a 72-yard pass that was tipped in the air and into the waiting hands of Sam Chavez.
On the ensuing kickoff, Don Lugo recovered its onside kick, and after what seemed to be seven or eight penalties against the South Hills defense, quarterback Kalib Pacheco snuck in from 1-yard out.
Pacheco tossed TD passes of 65, 30 and 40 yards to Gavin Hrynezk.
Pacheco’s 35-yard scoring strike to Chavez got the Conquistadores to within 14-7.
South Hills is now 4-3 and this is the first time they’ve been over the .500 mark this late in the season since 2019.
A young Jacob Calderon and his staff have the Huskies growing week by week and they’ll enter league play on a three-game win streak.
At the very bottom of this story are video clip highlights and three interviews.
To view a photo gallery by Gwen Pointer, click on the Facebook link here: Facebook
Up next: The Huskies host Colony this Thursday at 7.
The Titans (4-3) had a week-seven bye.
Records: Don Lugo (1-6); South Hills (4-3)
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