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Daylight is giving way to a cool, comfortable harvest night. The East Los Angeles College stadium, pictured, is surrounded by smells as diverse as funnel cake, burritos, beef ribs and Cheetos Flamin' Hot covered with cheese.
Half the stadium is in Garfield blue. The other half is decked out in Roosevelt red. Two-thirds of the 10,000 seat stadium is filled already, and kickoff is still 1 1/2 hours away.
-- Mike Terry

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ELA CLASSIC- MAX PREPS HIGHLIGHTS....CLICK BOTTOM LINK

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..............................EAST LA. Classic 2007

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Roosevelt Upsets Garfield in ‘Classic’ Showdown

Mario Villegas
Exclusive to EGP

Jesse Diaz likes the role of the underdog and his fellow Roosevelt High School students helped the Rough Riders feel like one as they prepared to play archrival Garfield in the East Los Angeles Classic. The junior quarterback said that many around the school didn’t like the Rough Riders’ chances.

They were saying why go to the game? They’re going to lose,” Diaz recalled.

He went out and proved them wrong by directing Roosevelt to a stunning 23-15 victory over Garfield last Friday before a near-capacity crowd of more than 20,000 at East Los Angeles College Stadium. Diaz completed 18 of 28 passes for 286 yards and a touchdown with one interception. The TD was an electrifying 88-yard play with Diaz completing a 30-yard pass to running back Manny Ayon who broke to the outside and raced down the sideline shaking off two tacklers in front of the Garfield bench along the way.

Besides ending Garfield’s two-game winning streak in the series and winning local bragging rights, the Rough Riders (5-4 overall) are back in the City Section playoff picture. They snapped a three-game losing streak to improve to 2-3 in league and they will most likely gain a berth in the City Invitational playoffs with a win against winless South Gate (0-9, 0-5) at home Friday night. The playoffs begin Nov. 15.

“These kids don’t give up,” said Roosevelt Coach Javier Cid. “They fight all the way down to the end.”

Garfield, on the other hand, fell to 6-3 overall and 3-2 in league. Two weeks ago, the Bulldogs were battling for the Eastern League title. But consecutive losses have the Bulldogs feeling beleaguered and tied for second place with Huntington Park and South East. Garfield plays Bell (1-7, 1-4) Friday night at home.

“We’re just not the team we were two weeks ago,” Garfield Coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “Our kids came in here expecting to win because we blew them out last year and we have a pretty good record this year. We have a good team, we just didn’t play hard.”

After a scoreless first quarter, Roosevelt jumped out to a stunning 13-0 lead in the second. Ayon scored on a 17-yard touchdown run to cap a 50-yard drive. Running back Jonathan Torres helped set up the score with a 16-yard run on the previous play.

Things turned disastrous for Garfield. The snap from center sailed high over the head of punter Sergio Macedo and was recovered by Roosevelt’s Anthony Hernandez 35 yards downfield in the end zone for a touchdown. To the Bulldogs’ chagrin, the turnover came after the Rough Riders were penalized five yards for running into the kicker on the previous play. Garfield accepted the penalty, thus choosing to punt again.

Roosevelt shut down Garfield’s run-oriented offense for most of the first half. In fact, Garfield managed just 58 total yards in the first half. But the Bulldogs got a break when they recovered a fumble at the Rough Riders’ 21-yard line. They cashed it in with Franky Diaz scoring on a 17-yard TD run to trail only 13-7 at halftime.

Fueled by the momentum they generated at the end of the first half, the Bulldogs put together a drive to start the third quarter and appeared to be on their way to at least get closer. A penalty put them into fourth-down-and-long, however, and the drive ended when Roosevelt’s Joel Jimenez made a leaping interception at the Rough Riders’ 5-yard line.

Three plays later, Diaz connected with Ayon on the 88-yard touchdown pass to increase Roosevelt’s advantage to 20-7.

“We put them down by two scores and put them into a throwing situation, and that’s not what they’re very good at,” Cid said.

Trailing by two scores with seven minutes left in the third quarter, Garfield struggled to generate any offense. Meanwhile, Diaz led his team to another score, which came on Oscar Alatriste’s 33-yard field goal with 8:12 left in the fourth. His 30-yard completion to Gus Cuevas keyed the drive.

“Jesse had to step up and make plays,” Cid said. “He doesn’t get rattled and comes to play.”

Diaz got adequate pass protection from tackles Nelson Maldonado and Ramon Barraza, guards Daniel Garcia and Michael Licea and center Rafael Ortega.

“Our offensive line isn’t big so we have to throw the ball, but tonight we ran the ball effectively when we had to and made some big first downs,” Cid said.

Ayon finished the game with four receptions for 129 yards and Art Hernandez had a team-leading six receptions for 78 yards. Jimenez added four receptions for 37 yards.

Ortega also helped to lead a valiant effort by the Roosevelt defense from his inside linebacker position, as Garfield managed just 58 total yards in the first half. Alcantar was under a lot of pressure for most of the second half and managed to complete only six of 21 passes for 90 yards. Running back Franky Diaz rushed for 67 yards on 13 carries.

Roosevelt also got stellar play from linebackers Jeremy Aguilar and Omar Cruz, cornerback Peter Cabrera and Maldonado, the right tackle on offense who played nose tackle for the first time this season.

“The whole defense really played well and a lot of the credit has to go to (assistant coaches) Richard Zepeda and Alfred Robledo our defensive coordinators,” Cid said.

Garfield rallied and scored a late touchdown and a two-point conversion. Macedo scored on a 3-yard run and tight end David Lopez caught a two-point conversion pass from quarterback Javier Alcantar with 1:06 remaining.

The Bulldogs’ hopes of a comeback ended when Roosevelt’s Bernie Munoz recovered their onside kick attempt.



The Photo in the Home page features Roosevelt High School running Manny Ayon cutting to the outside en route to a 17-yard touchdown run in the second quarter of last Friday’s East Los Angeles Classic.











By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 08.NOV.07

Roosevelt High School did more than just pull off an upset in the 73rd East L.A. Classic. The Rough Riders’ playoff chances received a significant boost with last Friday’s 23-15 victory over Garfield.

Behind junior quarterback Jesse Diaz’ 286 yards passing, Roosevelt surprised the second-place Bulldogs (6-3, 3-2) at East L.A. College and now takes records of 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Eastern League into Friday’s regular-season finale against winless South Gate.

“I think if we win, we should be in good shape for the playoffs,” Rough Rider coach Javier Cid said.

With back-to-back losses to Jordan and Roosevelt, Garfield has hit a rough patch at the wrong time. While, getting into the playoffs is not a concern, the team’s quality of play in stretch time is.

“Now we’re in a situation where we have to win,” Bulldog coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “We’re going to have to bounce back against Bell (Friday). We can’t afford to drag into the playoffs or we’re going to go out early.

“We have to patch things up with our offensive line. We took a couple of steps back. We’re not getting off the ball as fast as we were and not opening things up for the running game.”

Roosevelt’s postseason hopes are still alive for two reasons _ the sharp passing of Diaz out of the spread offense and an undersized defense that kept Garfield’s running attack in check most of the night.

Outside of a first-half interception by Roy Fonseca that didn’t result in a score, Diaz was near-flawless, completing 18 of 27 passes, the biggest being an 88-yard touchdown pass to Manny Ayon that gave the Riders a 20-7 lead with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter. The score occurred on third-and-10 and saw Ayon (four catches, 129 yards) break three tackles on his sprint down the sidelines.

“We saw the safety biting hard on inside slants, so we had him (Ayon) go in, then break out,” Diaz said of the scoring play.

Analyzing his own play, Diaz said, “I played okay, but I could have played better. I made a bad read on the pick (interception).”

Cid was more effusive in praising his quarterback, who has been outstanding in both the 2006 and 2007 Classics.

“He had to step up and make big plays and he did,” Cid said. “He’s going to continue to do that because he doesn’t get rattled. I’ve been hoping for a quarterback like this for a long time.”

Cid was also happy with a defense that limited Garfield to 135 yards rushing.

“We knew they were going to run, so the key was to force them to pass,” he said. “We put extra people in the box and dared them to throw. It was big once they got down by two scores, because they’re not as good at throwing the ball.

“I thought we had to play the best game of our lives to win. We didn’t do that, but we played good enough. The thing with our kids is they don’t give up and fight all the way.”

Roosevelt’s ability to make the Bulldogs play catch-up was critical.

Following a scoreless first quarter, the Rough Riders put together a 50-yard, four-play drive that ended with Ayon taking an option pitch 17 yards for a TD with 6:35 left in the half.

Two minutes later, a snap sailed over the head of Garfield punter Sergio Macedo. Anthony Hernandez recovered in the end zone to give the Riders a 13-0 lead.

A Roosevelt fumble enabled the Bulldogs to score with 2:21 left in the half. They recovered at the 21 and two plays later, Franky Diaz (13 carries, 67 yards) scored on a 17-yard run.

In the fourth period, Oscar Alatriste’s 33-yard field goal gave Roosevelt a 23-7 lead. Macedo’s three-yard run and a two-point conversion pass from Javier Alcantar (6-of-21 for 90 yards) to David Lopez got the Bulldogs within, 23-15 with 1:06 left.

When Bernie Munoz recovered the ensuing onsides kick, Roosevelt was able to run out the clock.


Roosevelt strikes first in Classic



Former Garfield tailback Michael Aguilar, who scored three touchdowns against Roosevelt in last year's Classic, was looking on nervously from the Bulldogs' sideline.

"It hurts to watch," said Aguilar, who is a redshirt this season at Missouri Southern State. "Even now, when you see the teams and hear the crowd, it gives you chills."

Roosevelt was making it harder to watch for Aguilar, building a 13-0 lead in the second quarter. But a 17-yard touchdown run by Garfield's Franky Diaz cut the deficit to 13-7 with 2:21 left in the first half.

-- Mike Terry

Cue Carlos for the guitar solo
Roosevelt Coach Javier Cid loves the smooth music of Santana.
One of the Rough Riders' plays is called "Black Magic" after Santana's "Black Magic Woman." Cid called for it in the third quarter. The pass play, from Jesse Diaz to Manny Ayon, went for an 88-yard touchdown and helped Roosevelt score a 23-15 upset victory over Garfield in an Eastern League game at East Los Angeles College.
"If it wasn't my favorite Santana song before," Cid said, "it is now."
-- Mike Terry