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Posted: Tuesday, October 8, 2013 2:40 pm | Updated: 2:59 pm, Tue Oct 8, 2013.

By Ron Guild, Sports Editor | 0 comments

South Gate at Roosevelt

Stopping the City’s leading rusher will be the challenge for Roosevelt Friday when it welcomes South Gate.

The Rams (4-2, 2-0) are led by Lavell Thompson, who rushed for 1,056 yards and 12 TDs and is averaging 14.9 yards per carry for the league co-leaders. He had 189 yards and three TDs in last week’s 51-37 win over Huntington Park.

Quarterback Alexander Flatos had another 153 yards and three scores on the ground in that one.

Roosevelt coach Javier Cid knows he has a challenge on his hands.

“South Gate is much improved (from 2012) and will be a tough team for us at home,” he said. “They’re kind of balanced. They want to pass the ball and run the ball.

“No. 2 (Thompson) is their guy, but they have a couple of others guys who are pretty good. Their quarterback is getting better and better and they have a good line.”

The Rough Riders (5-0, 1-0) opened league last Friday with a 33-10 victory at Bell.

They fell behind 10-0 in the first four minutes, then scored the next 33 to win going away.

Quarterback David Arriaga ran for three touchdowns and had 122 yards rushing on 11 carries and his brother, Daniel, had 127 yards and two TDs in 13.

David now has 981 yards and 12 TDs on the ground. Daniel has 467 and seven.

“They got us early on their option with the blitz, but the thing with our coaching staff is that we don’t panic,” Cid said. “We just made our adjustments.”

Matthew Perez sprinted 58 yards for a TD after taking an option pitch from Redani Diaz and the Eagles (2-4, 0-2) would add a 37-yard field goal moments later from Brent Blasquez following a Rider turnover.

From then on, it was all Roosevelt, which led, 21-10 at halftime.

“They started with 10 points right off the bat, but we tightened it up after that,” Cid said. “The offense came through and the defense held them.”

The Arriagas had big nights, but Cid pointed to others who contributed, namely running back Robert Taylor (10 carries for 60 yards) and wide receiver Jose Mariscal (four catches for 41 yards).

“We do want to give the Arriagas their touches, but I thought Robert Taylor did an outstanding job of running the ball and Mariscal had a few catches early that got us first downs. We have other guys who can handle the ball and we want to get it to them, too.”

Roosevelt’s defense limited Bell to 133 yards of total offense, nearly half of that on the long run by Perez early on. Perez finished with 74 yards on 11 carries.

Diaz, the City’s second-ranked passer (187.5 yards per game) was held to 49 yards through the air and was intercepted twice.

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