The rematch
Spartans to face Tigers in round 2 of playo s
It’s truly a quirk of the mind that could-havebeens occupy so much cranial real estate. What if I had taken that job in Albuquerque? Or actually studied for the ACT? Or remembered that thing … you know, the one?
The pragmatist, of course, realizes the futility of dwelling in a world of ifs — the past can be learned from but not altered — but sometimes the allure of alternate realities can be too strong to fully ignore.
This tendency to obsess over flashpoint moments is especially pronounced in the sporting realm. Each fanbase has its own special ghosts. What would the early-to-mid ‘90s have been like for the Raiders if Bo Jackson’s hip hadn’t died suddenly? How many World Series would the Dodgers have won by now if Clayton Kershaw didn’t dissipate into a fine mist every October?
Heading into the postseason, the 2018 Imperial Tigers football team had built up a nice little cache of un-litigated what-ifs — with two of the biggest revolving around lost fourth-quarter leads in narrative-altering Imperial Valley League games, dropping them to the seven seed in the CIF-SDS Division III playoffs — but these nagging hypotheticals were always met with a studied determination to remain in the present moment.
And, as evidenced by the Tigers opening round shutout win over West Hills, that determination’s already borne some fruits.
Speaking after the win, Tiger quarterback Santiago De La Torre acknowledged that the team’s ethos was very much one of faith in the process, without room for second-guessing. He said the pre-game mentality was “to just do what we’ve been doing. Obviously, we came off a win against Palo Verde … (and we wanted) to get [another win] and move on to the next round.”
It is ironic, then, that the Tigers’ victory puts them on a collision course with the author of one of their toughest regular season losses, the Central Union Spartans — against whom they gave up one of the aforementioned late leads — giving them a rare chance at almost immediate redemption … even if they don’t elect to frame it as such.
Indeed, when asked about the impending rematch, De La Torre was coy.
“We’re just going to prepare the same. We’re not going to treat any team different than what we’ve been doing,” he said.
But, even if act-like-you’ve-been-here-before professionalism is the order of the day down on the grass, the game remains instantly compelling.
In mid-October, when the teams first met, the season was already well underway, and local teams had more or less found their identities.
Central entered the match as the “team to beat” having then (and having still) an unblemished record both in and out of conference.
Imperial was the Imperial Valley League’s talented wildcard, capable of beating anybody, as they had nearly done against Brawley two weeks previously.
True to form, the game turned out to be a thriller.
Central struck first with an early touchdown, but after that, the Tigers took control, taking the lead and holding it until the fourth quarter.
They harried Central QB Deniro Osuna into his worst performance of the season — he finished nine for 21, for 97 yards and two picks — and got three TDs on three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust offense. But the Tigers coughed the game away on run defense, allowing the Spartans’ Jonathan Medina to cover 190 yards on the ground and score three times, including the fourth-quarter game-winner.
Central for their part, grew into their role of favorite as the game progressed. By the end of the night, their defense had become truly stifling, stopping the Tigers on a crucial red-zone fourth down with less than four minutes to go and picking off a last-chance De La Torre heave to seal their 28-23 triumph.
It was pulse-pounding stuff, without a doubt, and Friday is round two.
The Spartans can feel the hype leading up to this game, and they recognize the threat the Tigers pose to a lengthy postseason run.
“Imperial is a very good football team,” said Central Coach David Peña, speaking early Wednesday evening, “They do a lot of little things well.”
He acknowledged that their previous meeting had been a real potboiler and stressed that “we need to make sure we don’t make some of the same mistakes we made (in the first game).”
Key to their success will be their ability to contain De La Torre. “He makes their offense go,” said Peña, “We’ve got to respect his abilities.”
Imperial, meanwhile, will have to respect the abilities of a bevy of highly talented Spartans — including Osuna, Thadeo Campbell, Joseph Tarango, Tyrese Marsh and more — and they’re sure to be spending a few extra hours in practice looking at how to slow down Medina.
“We’ve got to shut down their run game, because that’s what killed us the last game,” said De La Torre.
It may be a tough ask, especially as the venue for these two IVL Titans has shifted from Shimamoto-Simpson Stadium to the Spartans’ Cal Jones Field.
The main thing, however, is “just to play the game that we know how to play,” De La Torre said. If they do, “we’ll be fine.”