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Ayon Sparks Roosevelt to 28-16 ‘Classic’ Win Over Garfield

By Mario Villegas, Exclusive to EGP

An injury kept Roosevelt High School’s Manny Ayon on the bench for all but one play in the first half of last Friday’s game with archrival Garfield. It didn’t take long however for the Rough Riders’ quarterback-wide receiver to make his presence felt once he entered the game in the second half.

Despite playing with a sprained ankle, Ayon came in to play quarterback and raced 42 yards on his first carry to spark the Rough Riders’ on a 61-yard scoring drive that he capped with a six-yard touchdown run.

Ayon’s score enabled the Rough Riders to overcome a 9-7 halftime deficit and go on to defeat Garfield, 28-16, in the 75th East Los Angeles Classic before an estimated 20,000 spectators at East L.A. College.

“He’s a gamer and the time had come to take the reins off of him,” Roosevelt Coach Javier Cid said. “We purposely held him out and waited until the right moment to put him in, hoping that he would give us a lift. We knew he would get the job done.”

On a night when Roosevelt attempted only four passes and gained 322 rushing yards, Ayon rushed for a game-high 115 yards on 15 carries.

“I knew I wasn’t going to get much playing time because of my injury,” said Ayon after the game. “I got my chance and did what was possible to keep us going.”

Ayon also made the most of his one play in the first half, throwing a five-yard touchdown pass to quarterback Brandon Sifuentes. The score staked Roosevelt to an early 7-0 lead.

“That was the first time we scored on our first possession this season,” Cid said. “We’re usually a slow-starting team, so I thought that was kind of special.”

Although cautious in using his versatile senior standout, Cid said he hoped the game would be close when he turned to Ayon.

“We probably would have put him in the game sooner if the score would have gotten out of hand,” Cid said.

Fullback Elgin Rosales also had a big night for the Rough Riders, rushing 114 yards on 13 carries, including a 23-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that sealed the victory.  Sifuentes had 40 yards on eight carries. Tailback Jesse Lira was limited to 37 yards on 10 attempts, but scored on a one-yard TD run in the final period.

They ran behind tackles Ramon Barraza and Angel Barrera, guards Chris Moreno and Ricardo Alfaro and center Zach Rivera on the offensive line.

“I thought we would have to throw the ball tonight, but we were running it pretty effectively so we stayed with it,” Cid said.

With the victory, Roosevelt clinched at least a tie for its second consecutive Eastern League title by raising its league record to 5-0. The Rough Riders (8-1 overall) can win the title outright by defeating South East (4-5, 3-2) Friday night in South Gate. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Garfield fell to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in league. The Bulldogs play South Gate (2-7, 0-5) Friday night at home.

A two-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Lopez and a 37-yard field goal by Marco Arce gave Garfield a 9-7 halftime lead.

But turnovers and penalties have plagued the Bulldogs for most of the season and last Friday was no different. They lost three of four fumbles and had a pass intercepted.

Garfield put together an impressive second quarter drive that started at its 26-yard line only to lose a fumble at the Roosevelt two. Roosevelt’s Jonathan Mariscal caused the fumble that was recovered by Richard Martinez.

Fullback Bobby Vargas led the Bulldogs’ drive with runs of 18, 19 and 13 yards.
Garfield re-took the lead, 16-14, in the third quarter, scoring on quarterback Leonardo Vaal’s 32-yard touchdown pass to Willie Fonseca.

But Ayon responded with a scoring drive of 12, 18 and 10 yard runs, capped off with a short scoring run by Lira.

Roosevelt’s Willie Linares recovered a fumble at the Garfield 18 and Roosevelt took advantage with Rosales scoring on his 23-yard run with 10:56 remaining in the game.

The Bulldogs tried to rally back, but lost the ball on downs at the Rough Riders’ 22 with 8:53 left and Roosevelt put together a time-consuming drive.

Martinez’s interception with 25 seconds left sealed the victory.

“We made the same mistakes we’ve made all season and Roosevelt did everything they needed to do to win the game,” Garfield Coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “They controlled the ball and made our defense work. That hasn’t been done to our defense in a long time, so you have to give credit to where credit is due. Coach Cid and his staff did a great job.”

Roosevelt now leads the series, 40-29-6.

Friday’s Prep Football Schedule
All games 7 p.m. unless indicated

Almont League
-Bell Gardens (6-3) at Schurr (7-1-1)
-Keppel (1-8) at Alhambra (5-3)
-Montebello (3-6) at San Gabriel (5-4)

Camino Real League
-Verbum Dei (6-3) at Cantwell Sacred Heart (4-5)

Del Rey League
-Cathedral (9-0) at Serra (9-0)

Eastern League
-South Gate (2-7) at Garfield (4-5)
-Roosevelt (8-1) at South East (4-5)
-Bell (6-3) at Huntington Park (3-6)

Northern League
-Franklin (7-1) at Eagle Rock (1-7), 2:15 p.m.
-Lincoln (3-6) at Wilson (3-6)
-Marshall (6-3) vs. Belmont (4-5) at Birmingham HS

Santa Fe League
-St. Genevieve (9-0) at Salesian (3-6)

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