The Avalon Lancer Football team clinched the league championship on Friday in a very tough, hard fought game. Rolling Hills Prep has a very good team this year and they came ready to dethrone the reigning champs. The Lancers did not look prepared for such a tough opponent and the first half proved to be a very difficult challenge. We struggled running the ball against a very stingy Rolling Hills Prep defense and the passing game also garnered very little success.
The Avalon Lancer Football team clinched the league championship on Friday in a very tough, hard fought game. Rolling Hills Prep has a very good team this year and they came ready to dethrone the reigning champs. The Lancers did not look prepared for such a tough opponent and the first half proved to be a very difficult challenge. We struggled running the ball against a very stingy Rolling Hills Prep defense and the passing game also garnered very little success.
The Lancers managed to score on their first drive on a run by Torres-Zeller but we did not score again in the half and went into half-time trailing 12-6. Half time was spent strategizing and Coach Andrew Hobbs delivered an epic speech for the ages that turned things around and the Lancers were re-energized and ready to go. Nice job Coach, well timed and thanks!
It has very been difficult playing all of our games on the road, always in the opposition’s back yard. Our boys have remained focused and determined, despite these difficulties, to keep things positive.
The second half saw a completely different team as the Lancers wrestled control of the game and re-established our running game. Jaime Alaniz stepped in at fullback and we dominated on the ground. Great job Jaime. It was a complete team effort as Leo Romero came up huge on the day with two interceptions at cornerback and Patrick Sitzes, in his first full game back after injury, had his motor running and he made it very difficult for the Rolling Hills offense to hang in there with us.
In the end, Avalon, hung on to a 2 point margin of victory and retained the League Championship.
For Avalon, Bryan Martinez had a great game running the ball and scoring, Mark Tamayo broke off a couple of key long runs, one for a touchdown, Chris Alcala shored up the defense in the middle and Giovani Leyva, Sergio Casillas, David Garcia and Estevan Reyes all battled it out in the trenches against Prep’s big, strong front line. Congratulations guys on a victory that demonstrated the team’s perseverance and ability to bounce back from adversity.
