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Matadors host, then toast Red Devils
- Updated: September 28, 2019
Sweetwater's Mario Villa carries against Mount Miguel on Friday. / photo by Thomas Ringer
Mount Miguel’s defense shut out Sweetwater in the second half. / photo by Thomas Ringer
2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL
MOUNT MIGUEL 42, SWEETWATER 14
EastCountySports.com staff report
SPRING VALLEY – In the heart of Spring Valley at 8585 Blossom Lane, the Sweetwater Red Devils came in to upset Mount Miguel on the Matadors’ home turf. As for the Matadors, they were hungry to get the winning record, and they did. The Matadors reached a new record of 3-2 with the 42-14 win over the Red Devils.
The Matadors deferred the toss and the Red Devils came out in the first half with the ball in junior quarterback Isaiah Atayde’s hands. The Matadors Defensive line came out strong, putting the pressure on the Red Devils’ offensive line, eventually causing a fumble, which was recovered by the Matadors.
On their opening drive, the J.D. Lavediere to Allen-Pompey connection stuck again for a 50-yard passing touchdown.
Early in the second quarter, the Red Devils answered back with a touchdown along with a successful PAT making the score tied at 7-all until the Matadors retaliated with a great drive and one of three rushing touchdowns from the Matador junior quarterback Laverdiere. This made it tied at 14-all heading into the half.
Sweetwater carries against Mount Miguel on Friday night. / photo by Thomas Ringer
The Matadors received the second-half kickoff and needed that opening drive to come out and score to go ahead.
Laverdiere and Allen-Pompey had connected twice on the drive, the second being the second passing touchdown between the two, making the score 21-14.
Running back Mario Villa had led the charge down the field for Sweetwater until the Mount Miguel defensive line came back out and swallowed up the Red Devils for a turnover on downs, which Mount Miguel capitalized on with the second rushing TD by Laverdiere. This allowed the Matadors a little bit of Insurance, making the ball game a two-touchdown game.
During the third quarter, there was great drives back-and-forth, although the defenses on both sides kept each other’s offenses quiet.
That is until about the middle of the fourth quarter when Sweetwater had fumbled on its own 15. The Matadors only needed two plays to take advantage of the fumble when Laverdiere ran in for his third and final rushing touchdown.
After another solid back-and-forth of drives with no gain, Laverdiere connected with Jojo Castillo while scrambling, only to see Castillo break a tackle and run in for the final touchdown of the night.
The Matadors won and shut down the Red Devils, 42-14.
“We feel great about the win today,” said Allen-Pompey, who caught seven passes for 200 yards. “But now is when we have to focus up even harder, grind in practice even harder, and tune in our mindsets even harder.”
Mount Miguel lines up against Sweetwater on Friday night. / photo by Thomas Ringer
Laverdiere’s three touchdown runs gives him seven rushing touchdowns over the last two games.
He finished the night 15-of-26 attempts passing for 272 yards, while also finishing with 50 yards rushing on 16 carries.
Kojo Miller, a junior, had six receptions for 35 yards.
Senior Axel Aguilar was 6-for-6 on point-after tries.
The game was originally scheduled as a home game but turf damage at Sweetwater’s field has forced the Red Devils to likely move all their home games this season to Hilltop High. The Lancers were at home on Friday, so the game was shifted to Mount Miguel.
The Matadors host Santana in a matchup of two major contenders for the Grossmont Valley League championship next Friday.
