Garfield wins wild one in opener
Bulldogs QB Polanco has 270 total yards and accounts for four touchdowns.
Cars lined the streets and fans packed shoulder to shoulder in the stands Friday night to see a rematch more than 30 years in the making.
Montebello and Garfield, separated by just over two miles and boasting players who shared middle schools and Pop Warner teams, put on a show that all those rubbing shoulders could appreciate.
After three fake punt conversions, nine lead changes and a host of sloppy play, Garfield defeated Montebello 39-36 in the teams’ season opener behind senior quarterback Adam Polanco, who had 270 total yards and accounted for four touchdowns.
Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez said it’s a mystery as to why the two sides hadn’t met in so long, but he’s glad it happened.
“It was a great game and great atmosphere, but we were here to win the game,” he said. “I’m glad we were able to put this together and I have a feeling it’s going to brew around the community as we showed great pride in our programs.”
Garfield began its trickery to close the first half as a fake punt on fourth and long turned into an 18-yard gain, and with the clock ticking toward zero, Polanco found Jalen Lawrence for a 43yard touchdown to give the Bulldogs a 19-15 advantage at the break.
Montebello struck first in the third quarter with a touchdown run from Kris Rodriguez, which was answered by Polanco’s threeyard keeper to give Garfield a 26-22 lead.
Michael Vital’s touchdown gave Montebello a 2926 lead at the end of the third, but Polanco’s touchdown pass to Angel Hidalgo made it 32-29 Garfield with 5:41 to go.
The Bulldogs got a huge defensive stop on the next Montebello sequence and Moses Gonzalez punched one in from four yards out to give Garfield a 39-29 lead with 2:40 to go.
Vital answered with a 61yard touchdown run with 1:37 left, but Montebello couldn’t hold Gonzalez on a late fourth-and-short conversion.