Football:
What a difference 10 months can make.
Last October, Maranatha ended its 2024 season having lost three consecutive Mesquite League games and they missed out on the playoffs.
Fast forward to August 22nd, and Rand Holdren, his staff and their players pushed the reboot button and secured a 34-14 season opening victory at Arroyo High School in El Monte.
MHS took a 27-7 lead into the break, and they held a 34-7 advantage into the fourth quarter.
George Pamilton III got Maranatha on the board with a 25-yard TD run.
After Arroyo tied the game at 7-7, quarterback Cooper Berry regained the lead with a 65-yard sprint to the end zone.
And the Minutemen would not trail again.
Benicio Jimenez and Nick Goodman anchored MHS’ defense.
Jimenez finished with 11 tackles, including four for-loss.
Jimenez picked off one pass and recovered a fumble.
Goodman tallied a game-high 12 tackles and forced a fumble.
Isaiah Lemongo picked up a fumble late in the first half and returned it 76 yards for what looked to be a TD.
However, a block in the back negated the full progress.
Berry would take advantage of the turnover by hitting Moses Llamas on a scoring strike as time expired in the first half.
Berry finished 18-of-27 for 234 yards.
He tossed three TD passes and was picked once.
Berry also led the MHS ground game with 61 rushing yards and one score.
Nico Vergara had nine receptions for 69 yards.
On the defensive side of the ball, Vergara totaled nine tackles, including one for-loss.
Niko Lareau had two punts inside the 20-yard line and his long of the evening was 63 yards.
Pamilton scored twice for the Minutemen.
Up next: MHS will host Artesia on Thursday at 7.
The Pioneers (1-0) claimed a 56-26 victory over visiting Cabrillo in their week-zero contest.
Box Score:
M: 7-20-7-0-(34)
A: 0-7-0-7-(14)
Quotable:
Maranatha coach, Rand Holdren: “It was great way to open the season for us. We had a lot of first-game problems that we will fix, but to come down to Arroyo and get a win is fantastic. With the Singisers’ back in the seat, we knew they were going to battle all night. We have a lot of respect for that team and their staff. We did some nice things and played together, which is great for our kids. Guys stepped up last night that hadn’t been in those roles before. We knew Nico Vergara, Nick Goodman and Cooper Berry would be great, but we didn’t know Benecio Jimenez was going to be such a madman on defense along with Matthew Rhee and Isaiah Lemongo. Our defense stepped up all night, and we held that team to essentially seven points was huge. On offense, Blake O’Brien had key contributions along with Morgan Freeman and George Pamilton. Coaching this team has been a blast this year and we are excited about sharing a future together. I’m also proud of our coaching and support staff for working together to solve problems so well. It was also clearly our first game, and we had too many penalties, including three touchdowns called back, and someone forgot their helmet. All in all, we are a happy coaching staff.”
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Records: Maranatha (1-0); Arroyo (0-1)
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