Spartans Vanquish The Ryders, 48-6

 Note From The Editor: The East L.A. Spartans are alive and doing very well at this point in their first season.We apologize for not being more current with our coverage, but in an effort to catch-up to Niko Gonzalez and his Spartans, we bring you this game summary and vivid photo gallery of their March 28th win over the Inland Empire “Ryders.”

We begin with comments from Spartans owner, Niko Gonzalez,  and his perspective on the season up to this point. “It’s has been a tough year for us dealing with so many key injuries and losing most of our QBs, but #7 Harold Arnold,  stepped up big for us against the Ryders, throwing for two TDs.” On recapping the game, he added, “we allowed the Ryders  to return the opening kick-off for a TD…but at the end of the night, that’s all they got. Our defense played another “lights out”  game and did not surrender any points by their offense.” He went on to acknowledge some big plays that delighted the fans. “They witnessed three big interceptions. One by #20 Cesar Alcaraz,  the second by #24 Jerremi Byrd  and the last, by #16 Brandon Easter,  which he returned for a “Pick 6”  TD. There was als0 a fumble recovery by #10 Louie Rodriguez, who was nearly credited with a score, but he was just shy of the TD when he was brought down at the 1 yd. line.” When asked about his offense he remarked, “it was a sight to see as they exploded often and convincingly. We were on-point in every aspect of the game. Our O-line dominated its opponents the entire game and gave our QB the extra time he needed on his play calls. Our running backs had outstanding games as they were led by #00 Armon Starr  with over 100 yds.  in rushing. I was extremely happy to see our offense firing on all cylinders. If we play like this the rest of the season, we can’t be beat. I’m very proud of my guys tonight. We showed what the East L.A. Spartans   and a Semi-Pro team CAN  do. We scored the most points in Spartan football history with 48 big ones.” The final score: SPARTANS (48) – Inland Empire “Ryders” (6).

For this game, substituting for Head Coach Ernie Navarro was Assistant Coach Anthony “Bubba” Morales. Here’s his overall description of the game. “This was a much-needed win for us. I couldn’t be prouder of the way our men performed. We were outnumbered by the Ryders personnel wise, as they had double the roster size we had. Many of our players had to be moved and were asked to adapt to positions they hadn’t played all season. But they persevered and fought “shoulder-to-shoulder”  like true Spartans. Assistant Coach Morales then had this to say about his offense. “Harold Arnold  did a great job in his first start at QB with only one week of practice. Our running game was successful, thanks to our bruising offensive line and the vision of Ellis Willoughby  who broke an early run of almost 80 yds. to tie the game at 6-6.  Xavier Booth  played huge as he literally dragged defenders for those extra yards. Adding to the fireworks was Armon Starr  who had an enormous night with over 150 yds.  receiving and 2 TDs. Other big time performances were turned in by Deshawn Edmond  and Jerremi Byrd  who contributed on both sides of the ball.”

2nd Note From The Editor:  As of  3/28/15 the Spartans owned a record of (4-4). They are still in playoff berth contention. In our next posting we will have a current status report on the Spartans and their bid to earn the coveted playoff spot in the PACWEST  Football League.

Credits:  Photo Gallery, Richie Subintr.

Photo Gallery: Click on each picture for an enlarged image.