Thanks to Shaun Kelly for the game info
Football:
South Pasadena headed into Thursday’s Rio Hondo League showdown with visiting Monrovia as the underdog.
Calpreps, the site that CIF-SS uses (state rankings) to formulate the first-round playoff pairings, gave the Tigers a 20-percent chance of winning.
In fact, they projected a 34-21 road victory for the boys in green.
However, algorithms don’t win football games.
Players do.
South Pasadena’s path to victory was twofold.
The Tigers defense held the Wildcats’ high-powered offense to 17 points under their weekly scoring average of 44 points.
And the South Pas ground game totaled 424 of the offense’s 450 total yards of offense.
Troy Freking rushed for 273 yards on 33 carries, and that included three rushing TDs.
David Ortega carried the ball 18 times for 143 yards, and he found the end zone twice.
Monrovia freshman Jesse Saucedo tossed 24-and-34-yard TD passes to Vince Paez.
One of the area’s most underrated stars, Joshua Griffiths, returned a kickoff 90 yards to pull the Wildcats to within 14-13
Saucedo finished with nearly 300 yards passing and three TDs.
Ortega led the South Pas defense with six tackles, while Rick Matsuda, James Dowd and Jasper Heathfield tallied five tackles apiece.
Tatem Mendoza picked off a pass for the Tigers.
Rio Hondo League Standings:
South Pasadena (6-2, 3-0)
La Canada (7-0, 2-0)
Monrovia (6-2, 2-1)
Temple City (5-2, 0-2)
San Marino (3-4, 0-2)
Poly (3-4, 0-2)
Week-Eight RHL Games:
San Marino at La Canada (Friday)
Temple City at Poly (Saturday at 9:30am)
South Pasadena 36, Monrovia 27
Week-Nine Schedule:
Poly at San Marino
Temple City at South Pasadena
La Canada at Monrovia
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