Shad and Andrew break down their Week 9 picks
Some big games this week as we enter DVL and SVL play.
It was seemingly a game of two teams heading in opposite directions, and Friday night the La Quinta Blackhawks continued their rise.
With a 40-13 victory over the Rancho Mirage Rattlers, La Quinta stayed in touch with the top teams in the Desert Empire League with just two weeks left in regular-season play.
“Whatever happens happens in the end. We’ve just got to take care of business one week at a time,” La Quinta head coach J. Ramon Ruiz said. “That’s the whole reason we do this. We are fighting for a league championship and we are still in the mix. But we have got to take care of business Monday through Friday to be successful.”
While the Blackhawks were strong in each part of their game Friday night to improve to 2-1 in the DEL and 6-2 overall, Rancho Mirage suffered another frustrating loss to fall to 0-3 in league and 3-5 overall. Hampered by players still on suspension from an on-field fight two weeks ago, the Rattlers were shorthanded in their efforts to stop the La Quinta offense.
“We have just got to keep fighting,” Rancho Mirage head coach L.D. Matthews said. “We have to go out and play hard, and you don’t know what is going to happened. We could win our last two games and go to the playoffs. You don’t know.”
The Rattlers did play hard Friday at home against La Quinta, but the Blackhawks’ combination of running back Colton LaCrone and quarterback Roman Ansley was too much for Rancho Mirage to overcome. LaCrone and Ansley each scored rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Ansley added a passing touchdown to Alfredo Castro for 13 yards in the second quarter for a 20-7 lead.
The dagger for the night for La Quinta came in the final minute of the first half. Trapped at their own 10, Rattlers quarterback Julian Hernandez tried to loft a screen pass over a rushing LaCrone. But it was tipped and LaCrone gathered it in at the 1-yard line and fell into the end zone for a score and a 27-7 halftime lead.
“You know, defense is more exciting, but offense is more of what you are supposed to do,” LaCrone said.
The second half was plagued by penalties and turnovers on both sides. with each team managing just one touchdown in the half until a late La Quinta touchdown by Gregory Mora.
For La Quinta, the win was important because it was a road game against a team Ruiz respects.
“They are a tough program. Coach Matthews always has them ready to play and in this league you can’t look past anybody,” Ruiz said.
The stars
LaCrone finished the night with 164 yards rushing on 21 carries with a 3-yard touchdown run and the defensive touchdown. Ansley had 117 yards passing and two touchdown tosses as well as 87 rushing yards and one touchdown. For Rancho Mirage, quarterback Julian Hernandez fought hard all night and finished with 117 rushing yards on 20 carries and 165 passing yards. Isaiah Hartwell scored both touchdowns for Rancho Mirage on rushes of three and eight yards.
The chatter
La Crone believes the Blackhawks are rounding into shape as the season draws to a close.
“We are still a little slow, but once we get all of our gears tuning at the same times, we’ll be unstoppable for sure,” LaCrone said. He echoed his coach that the team has to play just the game in front of them and not think too much about trying to get the DEL title.
Matthews believes his team, missing three starters on defensive and starting four sophomores on the night, could have been able to contain the La Quinta offense better with a full group of starters.
“Some of those long passes they hit, we could have had a different guys defending them,” Matthews said.
The takeaway
For the Blackhawks, Friday against Rancho Mirage was surely an important game, getting the team back over .500 in the DEL. The game showed balance in the Blackhawks offense, but Ruiz was disturbed by nine penalties, including several personal foul calls in the second half that he said were keeping Rancho Mirage in the game. Cleaning up those penalties will be important in the final two games of the season for La Quinta.
For Rancho Mirage, the frustrating season continued, not just because their team had to again sit players with suspension from the CIF-Southern Section — players that will also miss next week’s game — but from the inability to execute offensively deep in La Quinta territory. If even one of three empty trips inside the La Quinta 10 had produced a touchdown, the game might have been different.
What’s next
The Blackhawks will be home Thursday to take on Shadow Hills, while Rancho Mirage will be on the road to face Xavier Prep on Friday.