Bring on the state finals
Strathmore 3-peats as regional champs to head back to the state championships
Say what you will about Strathmore High School football but when it comes down to business, the Spartans will make you eat every single word of disrespect and then some.
Coming off a state-title championship season and their third-straight Valley title, there were still some naysayers doubting Strathmore’s chances against the Southern Section Div. XIII Saints of Adelanto (13-2) but when the clock winded down to zero, it was the Spartans (13-1) who remained standing with a 28-7 win in the CIF Southern California Regional Division 6-AA Championship game at Spartan Stadium Friday evening.
“Just an overwhelming commitment from a whole bunch of kids who in the beginning, nobody gave them a chance,” SHS head coach Jeromy Blackwell said. “‘You guys graduated 14 guys from the last season. You guys are an old story.’ They didn’t get any glory, any attention from anybody. And then here they came. The message is: today’s yesterday’s tomorrow.”
With the opportunity to go back-to-back as Socal Regional champions and head back to their third-straight CIF State Championship game, every single Spartan came to play with Blackwell’s motto — if it’s meant to be, it’s up to me —
ringing true in each and every play.
After a scoreless first quarter, three straight touchdowns in the final five minutes of the first half propelled the Spartans’ offense forward and changed the entire momentum of the game.
“We came out in the first quarter and it was just a dogfight and those guys just had extra energy,” Blackwell said. “There was that little eruption of three touchdowns and that’s what these guys are known for. It’s just a feeding frenzy. Whenever they taste the blood, you’re chumming the water and the sharks are going to attack and they attacked there and it’s happened over and over in this playoff run.”
Senior running back Alonso Acevedo got the ball rolling with a 14yard touchdown run aided by a block from junior wide receiver Andre Bravo with 5 minutes, 17 seconds left in the quarter. In the final minute things got wild with senior quarterback Trace Pugh linking up with Bravo for a 30-yard touchdown that the 5-foot-11 receiver caught over the head of Adelanto’s Danny Williams. Then with 23-seconds left to play senior linebacker Damian Valencia picked off Adelanto’s quarterback for the second time, but this time Valencia returned the ball for a touchdown.
“It was my first pick6 in my four times being on varsity,” Valencia said. “For it to happen in this type of game, this type of atmosphere, it’s a crazy thought.”
Valencia played lights out alongside a Strathmore defense that made it difficult to pick up yards, let alone score. Against a team that had only thrown two interceptions in their last six games, the Spartans picked off the Saints four times with junior Marcus Aparicio also having two interceptions. Outside of giving up a 73-yard touchdown to Adelanto in the fourth quarter, Strathmore was in complete control of the game.
“Osvaldo Ibarra’s been lights out all year, doesn’t get a lot of credit,” Blackwell said when asked about his defensive backs. “Damian comes up huge. He looked like Fred Sanford running down the sidelines but I’ll tell you he has bigger wheels than you think he does. We saw some big plays out of Pablo Vasquez, who [is] a really good athlete but hasn’t gotten to start, but man he shined in this football game. And Marcus Aparicio. I mean they’re really good kids.”
Strathmore scored their last touchdown of the game on another touchdown pass to Bravo who finished with two catches for 44 yards while Pugh completed three of eight passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns. Acevedo had his first fumble of the season but rushed for 113 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries for his eighth-straight 100-yard game of the season.
Due to fires in Northern California delaying teams’ seasons, Strathmore will receive a bye as they await the winner of the Norcal Regional Championship game that will be played next week. The Spartans will play in their second straight Div. 6-AA state final on Dec. 15.