(East Los Angeles, CA.)—The Garfield Bulldogs, Division I, Eastern League, opened their 2018 CIF/L.A. City Section (LACS) season with a big home win over their CIF/Southern Section opponent, and neighboring community high school, the Montebello Oilers, member school of the Almont League. The final score was 28-7. This win marked their second-in-a-row over the Oilers, having defeated them at Montebello in last year’s opener.

 Game Summary:

1^stQtr—The game’s first score came at the 7:13 mark when Garfield’s RB/#1 P.J. Garcia scored untouched on a 3 yard blast over left tackle. The Bulldogs set-up play to this came when they threw deep and penetrated the Oilers’ “Red Zone” on a beautifully executed fly pattern down the left sideline from QB/#11 Bruce Gonzalez to WR/#9 Angel Hidalgo for a gain of 38 yards. Garcia’s first score of the game came three plays later. PK/#16 Fabian Muñoz Rodriguez, a left-footer, booted his first PAT as a varsity player and it was good. Score: Garfield 7, Montebello 0.

2^ndQtr—The Bulldogs’ next score came with (11:05) left in the period when P.J. Garcia dashed for an electrifying 90 yard TD run. Head Coach Lorenzo Hernandez called a power, toss-right, sweep with huge blocks coming from center #64/Eduardo Flores/260, right guard, #54/Edgar Lozano/250 and right tackle, #58/Edder Martinez/225. He was nearly caught at the Oiler 40, but with a tremendous stutter-step move, he shook the one last defender, broke into the clear, and then picked up some help when teammate, Angel Hidalgo, covered Garcia’s final untouched 30 yards into the end zone with his presence and blocking. Garcia’s TD was his second of the game. Rodriguez’s second PAT was good. Score: Garfield, 14, Montebello 0.

Then, as time was winding down in the 1st half, at the (2:26) minute mark, P.J. Garcia once again followed his huge front line of blockers into the end zone on a 1 yard plunge for his third TD of the game. PK/Rodriguez remained perfect with his 3rd straight PAT. Score: Garfield 21, Montebello 0.

Of Significance….As the saying goes, give much credit where much credit is due. Reason–the Bulldog defense was extremely effective in allowing the Oilers very few opportunities of deeply advancing the ball on most of their 1st and 2nd half possessions. Led by solid performances from #28/Nicholas Delgadillo, #48/Miguel Ortiz, #55/Anthony Rubalcava, #42/Erick Anaya, #23/Jimmy Olivares, and #5/Abel Martinez, Garfield dominated the Oilers by applying a tremendous all-out pass-rush, great secondary coverage, numerous QB “hurries,” lots of gang-tackling, and only short yardage gains. The Oilers could never mount an effective air game due to the intensity of the entire Bulldogs’ defensive unit.

HALFTIME SCORE: Garfield 21, Montebello 0

{"slidestoshow":3,"slidestoscroll":1,"dots":"true","arrows":"true","autoplay":"true","autoplay_interval":3000,"speed":300,"loop":"true","lazyload":""}

 3^rdQtr—This period was basically a very good defensive display of good hard-nosed tackling coupled with excellent secondary coverage by the Bulldogs. And because of that, not much offense was generated by the Oilers, On the Garfield side of the ball, they put up their 4th and final TD of the game with (6:22) left the period. Another goal-line plunge, this time by back-up RB/#23 Andrew Garcia, was all it took. He was successful in his attempt behind the push of his large “O” linemen. PK/Rodriguez completed his first game with a perfect 4-4 PAT string. Safe to say that Coach Hernandez and his Coaching staff determined that they would utilize this home opener as a chance to evaluate their starting line-ups as well as the back-ups who greatly benefitted from valuable Game 1 playing time. Score: Garfield 28, Montebello 0.

4^thQtr— The period was played rather conservatively by the Bulldogs and Coach Hernandez seized the opportunity to re-calculate his depth chart according to the players’ talents that were observed by his coaching staff. The only score of the quarter came in the waning moments of the game. With just (:45) seconds left, Oilers’ RB/#1 Bryan Martinez caught a short pass from his QB/#8 Richard Placencia and first scampered right, then left, picked up a block and ran it in for a 10 yard socre. The PAT was good.

FINAL SCORE: Garfield (1-0) 28  Montebello (0-1) 7 

PHOTO GALLERY: Anthony Ramirez, East L.A. Sports Scene

Final Scores for other locally covered teams by East L.A. Sports Scene

Roosevelt Rough Riders  32  Gardena Panthers 14

Torres Toros 24   Verdugo Hills Dons  16

Wilson Mules  14   Bell Eagles  13 

Bosco Tech Tigers  35   Mendez Jaguars  20