From the opening kick-off of the 2014 high school football season, the Castle Park Trojans have been tabbed as the team favored to capture this year’s Metro-Pacific League championship. Certainly, the Trojans did nothing to dispel that after defeating the visiting Southwest Raiders, 48-0, in last Friday’s homecoming game.
“They (the Raiders) were overmatched,” CPHS head coach Hans Graham said. “It was one of those games where we tried to get everyone in. I’m just glad both teams came away without any injuries.”
Joining the Trojans (1-0 in league, 5-3 overall) at the top of the Metro-Pacific League standings are the Montgomery Aztecs, who topped the visiting San Ysidro Cougars, 42-7, in last Friday’s league opener.
Castle Park plays at San Ysidro (0-1, 2-6) on Friday while Southwest (0-1, 1-7) hosts Montgomery (1-0, 2-6). Should the Trojans and Aztecs both win, that would set up the league championship game Nov. 7 when Castle Park will host Montgomery in the teams’ annual Warrior Bowl.
“We’ve got San Ysidro next,” Graham noted. “We’re going to keep going for it and take care of business. That’s our goal.”
Land of Troy
Mylik Steen scored on a four-yard run and Jordan Danielson hit Adrian Tolbert on a 31-yard scoring pass to get the Trojans rolling in the game. Luc Barcoo then scored on a five-yard run before Steen returned a punt 47 yards for a touchdown as the hosts built a 27-0 first quarter lead.
Mikey Guardado and Jesus Guerra each scored on touchdown runs in the third quarter as Castle Park led 41-0 at halftime. Miguel Flores scored the Trojans’ final touchdown.
Castle Park rolled up 291 rushing yards, led by Elijza Johnson with 61 yards on four carries and Flores with 43 yards on five carries. A total of 10 Trojans rushed the football against the Raiders. Daniel Arana gained 39 yards on five carries while teammate Alex Madrid had 34 yards on two carries and Barcoo had 32 yards on three carries.
Danielson completed two of seven passing attempts for 52 yards. Besides hitting Tolbert for a TD reception, Danielson competed a 21-yard pass to Freddy Perez.
Defensively, Barcoo had one interception and one pass deflection. Johnson and Angel Juarez also had pass deflections in the game. Flores led the victors with six tackles while Johnson and Angelo Trujillo each made five stops.
On the season, Johnson has passed for 1,113 yards with 10 touchdowns against just two interceptions. He has also rushed 58 times for a team-leading 340 yards with six rushing touchdowns.
Danielson leads the Trojans with 1,453 total offensive yards.
Barcoo tops Castle Park with 725 all-purpose yards, followed by Steen with 577 yards despite playing in three fewer games. Tolbert paces all Trojan receivers with 24 catches for 563 yards and four touchdowns. Barcoo has 11 catches for 432 yards and five TDs.
Flores leads Castle Park defensively with 52 tackles while Diego Ibarra, Arana and Juarez each have recorded three sacks. Barcoo has four interceptions while Trujillo has two picks to his credit.
Aztec pride
Montgomery snapped a six-game losing streak by taming the Cougars. Charles Crawford scored on a short run, Alex Moore caught a touchdown pass from Nate Aragon and Anthony Parra tacked on a 40-yard touchdown run as the Aztecs plowed to a 21-0 lead in the game.
The Aztecs led 21-7 after the first quarter and 35-7 at halftime.
Aragon completed seven of nine passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed four times for 50 yards and one score. The Montgomery signal-caller has passed for 1,020 yards this season with five touchdown passes and has also rushed for 224 yards and five TDs.
Crawford rushed 17 times for 128 yards and two touchdowns. He has rushed for 833 yards and nine touchdowns on the season, and is averaging 119.0 rushing yards per game.
Moore had five catches for 89 yards in the win over San Ysidro. He has made 39 catches for 554 yards on the season.
Of note:
•Cougars freshman Franklin Forbes threw a 75-yard touchdown pass in the loss to the Aztecs.
•Southwest has lost its last four games since besting Mountain Empire, 36-14, on Sept. 19.
