Spartans pound Bobcats 54-6
The line kept jumping offsides. The offense took 16 minutes to score. The defense couldn’t get off the field for an entire quarter.
“I think we came out real flat,” Strathmore High School football coach Jeromy Blackwell said.
Imagine what the Spartans can do when they’re wide awake.
Even with their initial struggles, top-seeded Strathmore (10-1, 5-1 East Sequoia League) began the defense of its state championship with a 54-6 head slapping against eighth-seeded Boron (3-8) in Friday’s first round CIF Central Section Division VI playoff game at Spartan Stadium.
Next up: a Nov. 9 semifinal play date with fifth-seeded California City (7-3) at Spartan Stadium.
“We’ve got some things to iron out,” said Blackwell, who was dead serious about good not being good enough, even as his players celebrated a third straight 10-win season. “We were not as disciplined as we need to be.”
Yeah, but they were plenty good to win a school-record 10th straight Central Section postseason game. And those 54 points scored? Most in the section playoffs for these Spartans in the past three seasons.
Sure, the defending state champions are an entirely different beast than the 2017 Spartans. They lost 17 senior starters to matriculation, but who could tell the difference?
Strathmore dropped half a hundred on an opponent for the fifth in 11 games. This game was
over in the first 9 seconds, which is how long it took 5-foot-5 senior Fabian Alcantar to escort the opening kickoff to the end zone.
Never mind that the Spartans couldn’t add to the lead until 7:25 remained in the first half. Once they came to, it was a boat race.
There was senior quarterback Trace Pugh, breaking free from two defenders to find a leaping receiver Andre Bravo for a 12-yard touchdown on a broken play. One drive later, it was
receiver Amando Rodriguez catching his own bobble for a 17-yard touchdown. Next up, it was Lee Navarro’s turn to turn a screen pass into an 18-yard touchdown.
Six minutes, three Pugh touchdown passes, 28-0 at the break.
“He throws a pretty ball,” said Blackwell, who prefers his footballs muddy between the tackles but, hey, he’ll take whatever’s getting served.
And, to be sure, the Spartans did what Spartans do in the second half. They shoved the ball between the Bobcats’ whiskers.
Senior running back Alonso Acevedo cut and diced his way to 123 yards on 10 carries, scoring from 10 and 24 yards
on Strathmore’s first two drives of the third quarter. Alcantar added a 27-yard touchdown run. Christian Onsurez put a last piece of duct tape on the scoring with a 15yard run in the fourth quarter.
Those first two touchdown drives lasted one play each. The next drive took three plays, and the last drive took four snaps. Boron got home hours ago, and still doesn’t know what meteor landed on their sideline.
In between the two halves, the school had a ceremony on the field so a state politician’s representative could honor the
2017 state championship team.
Because, that’s how this team is going to be measured. Most of that team is gone, but this team is carrying the burden of heightened expectations. Their in-season loss to Woodlake, the team’s first since the 2016 state championship, did nothing to run off the lingering shadows of last autumn.
“Honestly, the guys from last year’s team didn’t even want to go out there at first,” Blackwell said. “It’s a great honor, don’t get me wrong, but they said they don’t want to think about last year anymore. This is their year. This is their season.”