South Hills High School Varsity Football Team

COVINA – South Hills High School tried going toe-to-toe with Charter Oak, but the video-game-like efficiency of Chargers quarterback Travis Santiago was too much to deal with.

On a night Santiago threw for 325 yards and two touchdowns, and rushed for 54 yards and three touchdowns, his evening might be best remembered for scrambling out of trouble and running over a defender for a first down that few quarterbacks have the guts to try.

When it was all over, Charter Oak had amassed over 500 total yards and ran South Hills off the field 63-28 in the Sierra League opener at Covina District Field on Friday.

Charter Oak, ranked sixth in the Inland Division, improved to 5-1 and 1-0 and the Huskies dropped to 3-3 and 0-1.

Back to Santiago.

“I’ve only been doing this for 44 years, the competitiveness and toughness in that kid is up there with the best of them,” Chargers coach Lou Farrar said. “He (Santiago) makes plays with his feet that matches the ability of his arm.

“I don’t know what to say, I’ve seen a lot of high school football games and high school football players. His ability to compete, think and his football IQ is phenomenal. There can’t be a better quarterback anywhere around here.”

Sophomore Kurt Scoby was nearly as difficult to contain, rushing for 154 yards and three touchdowns. Even receiver Aaren Vaughns contributed with seven catches for 121 yards, and Chris Gilchrist scored twice.

South Hills quarterback Vincent Hernandez threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns, and Jamel Hart rushed for 65 yards and two touchdowns to help keep the Huskies within striking distance, trailing 21-14 in the second quarter.

But the Chargers closed the quarter with 21 consecutive points to open up a 42-14 halftime lead.

“You could put them almost anywhere and that team is going to score points,” South Hills coach Steve Bogan said of Charter Oak. “They’re loaded. There’s lots of bullets in that gun and the bullets kept coming.”

And it didn’t take long for them to start firing.

After Gilchrist returned the opening kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown, Santiago completed a 37-yard pass to the 4, and then he ran it in a couple of plays later, scoring from a yard out for a 14-0 lead.

South Hills cut the lead in half on Hernandez’s 45-yard touchdown pass to Brayton Newton, making it 14-7.

But Santiago continued beating the Huskies with his feet too, scoring on a 5-yard run to make it 21-7.

After Hart cut the lead in half again with a 2-yard touchdown to make it 21-14, the Chargers broke the game open.

After Scoby scored on a 3-yard run, Santiago showed his brilliance on the next drive, completing a 33-yard pass and a 21-yard pass, then finishing the drive with a 16-yard TD run – the Chargers going 70 yards on three plays to go up 35-14 with 3:49 until halftime.

Scoby later scored his third touchdown of the half to put the Chargers up, 42-14, at the break.

Santiago, who along with teammates Gilchrist and Vaughns started at South Hills before transferring to Charter Oak, knew there would be a lot of emotion.

“I was dedicated to this game,” Santiago said. “I was here my freshman year, but I came to compete with my team tonight and we played together as one.”

Scoby’s 16-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Gilchrist’s 31-yard touchdown reception put the game out of reach for good.

Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/preps/ci_19119824

COVINA – It’s not often that a quarterback will beat you with his foot, but that’s what South Hills’ Danny Sheehan did Thursday night at Covina District Field.

Sheehan’s 27-yard field goal with 10.1 seconds remaining lifted the Huskies to a 31-28 victory over visiting Los Osos in nonleague action.

Los Osos (2-3) trailed 21-0 at one point, and tied the game 28-28 with 3:17 to play when quarterback Stephen Johnson scored on a 1-yard run. Michael McNicholl ran in the two-point conversion.

South Hills, however, led by Sheehan and running back Jamel Hart, drove the ball down to the Los Osos 5-yard line before an offside penalty on South Hills pushed the ball back to the 10.

Sheehan had no problem, however, with the extra yardage, handing the Grizzlies a tough defeat.

Sheehan hit Jamie Canada on a 10-yard scoring strike to get South Hills (3-2) out to a 7-0 lead with 8:38 left in the second quarter.

Adam Goss then recovered a Los Osos fumble in the end zone, and Manny Alvarez picked off Johnson and brought it back 42 yards to give the Huskies a commanding 21-0 first-half lead.

Los Osos got its first score of the game when Victor Bolden took a reverse 15 yards for the score, but the extra- point attempt failed.

McNicholl then rumbled 33 yards for another Grizzlies touchdown to close the gap to 21-12 when another point-after attempt failed.

Hart scored on a 1-yard run to extend the South Hills lead to 28-12 with 22 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

McNicholl was able to pound the ball into the end zone on a fourth-and-goal play from the 4-yard line, and he scored the two-point conversion to get Los Osos to within 28-20.

Johnson struggled most of the night for Los Osos and finished 12 of 36 for 86 yards.

McNicholl had 61 yards and two touchdown on 11 carries, and Luke Johnson rushed for 79 yards on 12 carries for the Grizzlies.

Bolden had a game-high six catches for 42 yards for Los Osos.

Hart led all rushers with 166 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, but he lost two fumbles in the red zone for the Huskies.

Canada not only scored the game’s first touchdown, but he also had an interception.

Sheehan completed 9 of 21 passes for 117 yards for South Hills, but his field goal and four extra points were the difference.

From: sgvtribune.com ~ Brian Baiotto, Correspondent

MONROVIA – With South Hills High School starting quarterback Vincent Hernandez taking the night off because of a lingering shoulder injury, the Huskies leaned on running back Jamel Hart.

The senior delivered, scoring two of his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter to help South Hills rally past host Monrovia 34-30 on Friday to improve to 2-2. The defending CIF-SS Mid-Valley Division champion Wildcats lost their third consecutive to fall to 1-3.

Hart, who finished with 155 yards on 30 carries, took over late in the third quarter after Wildcats quarterback Blake Heyworth hooked up with Anthony Craft for a 49-yard touchdown to take a 24-20 lead with 4:42 left in the third.

On the ensuing series, the Huskies marched 65 yards in 11 plays, with Hart carrying it nine times on the drive for 56 yards. He capped the march with a 10-yard touchdown run to move the Huskies in front, 27-24, a minute into the fourth quarter.

“That’s kind of what you want to do, score early and run the ball late to secure wins,” South Hills coach Steve Bogan said. “Jamel was able to wear them down, you can see it in the third and fourth quarters. He was getting big chunks of yards.”

After a 33-yard run later in the fourth, Hart scored again on a 4-yard touchdown to extend the Huskies’ lead to 34-24 with 9:09 left.

The Wildcats made it close on the final play of the game when Heyworth threw a 37-yard Hail Mary that Luke Williams came down with as time expired to make it 34-30.

Heyworth, who split time at QB with George Frazier, had a solid night, throwing for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Frazier, meanwhile, threw for only 69 yards with an interception.

The Wildcats had problems running the ball consistently. Marquise Bias had 37 yards on nine carries, and De’Shawn Ramirez had four carries for a net minus-two yards.

Ramirez did catch four passes for 83 yards – one a spectacular one-handed grab for a 54-yard touchdown in the first quarter that tied the score 7-7.

Even though it was a another loss, Wildcats coach Ryan Maddox thinks it will be worth it down the line.