Tigers Fall Short In Season Opener (Video and Photos)

Coming into tonight’s season opener against San Gabriel, there were several questions surrounding the South Pasadena Tigers football squad. Marty Konrad was beginning his coaching career at South Pasadena, and he was leading a team full of new starters and young faces, including sophomore quarterback Joey Harmon.

Tiger fans got their first look at their new squad Fridaay, and were left with a few positives and a few negatives, as their team fell short to the high powered offense of San Gabriel, 27-10.

Click on the videos above to watch some plays from Friday.

“I thought we competed—that’s always a concern going into the game with a young team with a new group of kids. And we had some good shots," Konrad said after Friday's game. "We have a team with a young offensive line I don’t think there’s one starter back from last year. We need these preseason games to get better."

San Gabriel put together an impressive opening drive, and it looked like it would be a long night for South Pasadena—as it appeared they could do little to stop the Matador’s spread style offense.

However, South Pasadena responded with an impressive drive of their own where they ran the ball down the throats of the Matadors. Senior backs Yihai Han and Sean Magill did most of the damage with Harmon sneaking it in to cap the drive, and evening the score at 7-7.

On the next possession, the Tiger defense stepped up forcing a fumble that gave the ball and the momentum to South Pasadena. Despite losing the game, South Pasadena was able to win the turnover battle, forcing two turnovers while not committing one.

“We did a couple technique things that we coached up during the week that paid off, but we still have to get much better at tackling—that was horrendous,” said Konrad.

The Tigers weren’t able to capitalize on the turnover, and it didn’t take long for San Gabriel to turn it around and retake control as they took back the lead on a touchdown pass, making it 14-7.

After another tough offensive possession for South Pasadena, San Gabriel was looking to distance themselves from the Tigers driving the ball down to the 13 before the Tigers came up with a big stop on 4th and 4, keeping the game tight.

After attempting just three passes in the half up to that point, Konrad let his sophomore QB loose a bit, allowing him to air the ball out, and Harmon made some impressive plays. He was able to drive his team all the way down to the 5 yard line, but time ran out before he could spike the ball after converting a first down.

Despite the board saying that the Tigers had one timeout, they did not, according to Coach Konrad after the game. As he simply put it, “Yeah we had a good drive going, but we just ran out of time.”

The Tigers continued their strong play in the second half, forcing a three and out from San Gabriel. The Tigers returned the ensuing punt all the way to the 11, but as had happened a few times in the first half, an untimely penalty wiped out a crucial play.

“We’ll watch on film, and we’ll try to evaluate what kind of penalty it was: Was it a hustle penalty, was a guy trying to get an extra block, was a guy trying to ride his guy a bit longer,” said Konrad. “That’s something we are going to have to overcome and eliminate if we are going to be any good this year.”

Even with the critical penalty, the Tigers were able to drive down and put in a field goal to cut the deficit to four at 14-10. On the ensuing Matador possession, the Tigers had them pinned into a 3rd and 9 corner, but couldn’t stop San Gabriel from getting the first down.

A few plays after that, San Gabriel put in a crucial touchdown giving them a 21-10 lead as we entered the fourth quarter. The Tigers drove down to the redzone again where they had to settle for a field goal. However this time it was blocked, and the momentum swung back to San Gabriel.

The Matadors tacked on one more touchdown, making it 27-10, and put the game out of reach for the Tigers. They were able to muster up a few good plays, and another takeaway—but the final score stayed at 27-10.

“The young guys competed in the game—that’s something we can build on. We had some good things on offense with only half our playbook. I’m looking forward to building on this for next week,” Konrad said.

The Tigers will now prep for Hoover, who fell to Glendale 20-6 in their opener.  That game will be 7 p.m. Thursday at South Pasadena.

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Final

South Pasadena

0

7

3

0

10

San Gabriel

7

7

7

6

27

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