(Gardena, CA)—The #13 ranked high school team in Southern California, the perennial CIF/SS powerhouse Serra Cavaliers (Gardena) played host to the L.A. City Section’s, Division I team representing East L.A. and the Eastern League, the Garfield Bulldogs on 8/30. This marked non-conference game #2 for Garfield (1-0), while this was the season opener for Serra. 

Brief Game Summary:

Serra literally put the game out of reach after their first two possessions of the game, when they struck for lightning quick, and super long TD runs of 60 and 75 yards respectively, by their highly acclaimed running back, #22, SR/Jaylon Armstead. From then-on, the strong, Serra  prevent defense allowed only a Garfield TD in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The Cavaliers were defensively led by #11 SO/Justin Houston/14 tackles, #23/SO Jeramie Jones/10 tackles and #44/JR Lando Brown/9 tackles. But back to the offensive machine, Armstead would add three more TDs, including a huge, crowd-pleasing 82 yard run to end his game-day with an astonishing and mind-blowing 223 yards on just 5 carries for a 44.5 average per carry. Leading the team from their QB positions were #5 SR/Doug Brumfield and #14 SO/Maalik Murphy.

HALFTIME SCORE:  Serra 41  Garfield  7 

VIDEO & PHOTO GALLERY CREDITS: Frankli Robles, East L.A. Sports Scene Productions and Lee Pictures

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During the next two quarters, Head Coach Scott Altenberg displayed very good sportsmanship when he lightened the load and played many of his reserves who had time to earn their overall team stripes while learning their offensive schemes and playing a good, and solid defense, which allowed only one Garfield TD in the 3rd quarter. Look for many of Coach Altenberg’s reserves to make tremendous contributions during the course of this season, as well as into the playoffs.

FINAL SCORE: Serra 41   Garfield  14

Garfield’s positive game showings came from SR/RB #1 PJ Garcia who ended his game-day stat-line with 27 carries for 85 yards and 1 TD. He managed to barely penetrate the huge, athletic, and adept front four defensive lineman and their linebacking comrades in the first half. For the Bulldogs defense, SR/#55 Anthony Ruvalcaba was credited with 6 tackles, 1 hurry, and 1 sack. QB/JR/#18 Jonathan Bautista struggled under pressure all game and finished with 7 of 19 for just 44 yds, 1 TD, and a 45.3 QB rating.

AS OF THIS WRITING, 9/10: the Cavaliers, members of the CIF/SS’s Mission League, clearly showed no rust in reclaiming their premiere status among local parochial powerhouse schools such as Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, JSerra of Orange County, and Bishop Amat, to name a few. Two very good overall CIF/SS match-ups for the Cavaliers will take place on the next two consecutive Fridays, 9/13 vs. Long Beach Poly @ Home and 9/20 vs. Narbonne @ Narbonne.

AS OF THIS WRITING, 9/10: Garfield, with a heartbreaking one point loss to the visiting El Rancho Dons from Pico Rivera, on 9/6, and now (1-2), will travel to play the always dangerous Crenshaw Cougars (Coliseum League) on Friday, Sept. 13th. Kick-off is set for 7 pm.