South Hills High School Varsity Football Team

Read more: Michelle Gardner – http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_16294734

South Hills High School had a tough time getting untracked in its final nonleague tuneup against Los Osos. The Huskies fumbled on the second play of their first possession and lost another on the second play of their second try.

Given that, the end result was not a surprise as the Grizzlies prevailed.

The Grizzlies (3-2) stormed to a 40-8 halftime lead and were never challenged. The Huskies (1-4) scored three touchdowns in the final quarter…

The first fumble resulted in a 28-yard field goal by Andres Magallano and the second ended with a 1-yard run by Torrey Payne.

“The most important play is always the next one,” South Hills coach Steve Bogan said. “You can’t be thinking about the play that just happened. It got away from us early.”

The workhorse for South Hills was junior running back Jamel Hart, who led all ballcarriers with 142 yards on 28 carries, highlighted by touchdown runs of 2, 1 and 2 yards.

The Huskies totaled 237 yards passing with Cody Deen catching five for 65 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown in the second half.

For Monrovia High School, it looked all too familiar.

But the ending was quite different, and no one was more pleased than the Wildcats.

Senior quarterback Nick Bueno accounted for 200 yards and two touchdowns and George Frazier converted on a 1-yard run to get a key first down with two minutes to play as Monrovia rallied for a 28-25 victory over South Hills on Thursday night at Covina District Field.

Monrovia, which saw San Dimas rally from three touchdowns behind for a 35-34 victory last week, improved to 2-2. South Hills, which received 150 yards rushing and a touchdown from Jamel Hart and led 17-7 in the first quarter, slipped to 1-3.

“It was good to see after last week,” Monrovia coach Ryan Maddox said. “We talked this week about battling after (last) Friday night.

“But the kids just battled. We got down early but they fought right back, and from that point on we pretty much controlled the game.”

South Hills nearly handed Monrovia a similar fate after Monrovia built a 28-17 lead on a 6-yard run by Bueno and his 14-yard pass to Jay Henderson.

The Huskies made it 28-25 on a 22-yard pass from Vince Hernandez to Jordan Gutierrez with 4:21 to play. Hernandez passed to Cody Deen for the two-point conversion.

Monrovia, like last week, refused to yield.

Michael Harris got 8 yards on third-and-9 to the 29 before Frazier sealed it with a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

“If we get that stop, yeah, it’s different,” South Hills coach Steve Bogan said. “That’s a tough spot. If we get that spot, the ball goes our way. It’s a totally different picture. But that’s how tough life is.”

South Hills, which suffered one of its worst losses in recent memory in last week’s 59-6 defeat at Tesoro, looked like it had rebounded after going up 17-7 in the first quarter.

The Huskies opened the game with a 53-yard drive to the Monrovia 20 before settling for Gutierrez’s 37-yard field goal and a 3-0 advantage.

South Hills, after Monrovia countered with a 48-yard pass play from Bueno to Harris and a 5-yard scoring run by Harris for a 7-3 lead, came right back and took a 10-7 lead on a 3-yard run by Hart with 2:45 left in the first quarter.

The Huskies weren’t finished. Levi Osborn intercepted a Bueno pass down the middle and returned it 10 yards to the Monrovia 45.

Hernandez then needed one play to put South Hills up by 10 and threw 45 yards to Deen for a 17-7 lead with 2:14 to play in the quarter.

But Monrovia turned it around on Bueno’s two touchdown plays and a 1-yard scoring run from Derrick Johnson for a 28-17 lead after three quarters.

“Monrovia is a very good football team,” Bogan said. “Anybody who’s seen them on tape can see that.

“We’re a work in progress, and we’re going to get better.’

South Hills, which had one touchdown wiped out by penalty, made one late try with about six minutes to go in the game.

Hart had an 11-yard run to the South Hills’ 36 and Hernandez threw 15 yards to the Monrovia 38 before hooking up with Gutierrez for the 38-yard touchdown.

But Monrovia ran out the clock after Frazier converted.

“You have fourth and very short, so you have to have confidence that you can win the game with that,” Maddox said.

Read more: Steve Ramirez – http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_16223471