Marquez Football Team Starts Off the Season

By Justin Perea

“What makes the grass grow? Blood!”

As we start the 2014-2015 school year, we have another exciting season of football. Our Gladiators went up against the Hollywood Sheiks. The stakes were high, as it was not only the first home game, but also the first league game. Even spectators crowded the fenced areas around the field when the stadium became too full. “It was an intense feeling,” says senior Nayely Granados. The Gladiators took Hollywood High School down by a score of 21-17. The game, however, was very close. Up into the fourth quarter with one minute left, Marquez had the lead. Hollywood had the ball and they were pushing hard on our defense. A mistake from their quarterback regarding the number of downs and time led them to turn over the ball, which secured a Marquez Gladiator victory.

The Gladiator team’s record currently stands at four wins and one loss, a vast improvement from their last season record of three wins and eight losses. Unfortunately, fullback and linebacker Serrano Reed sprained his ankle. A big tackle has left him out for two weeks; a big loss to the defensive side of the team.

The Gladiators came to conquer on the 28th of August when they played the Diego Rivera High School Huskies for their first 2014-15 preseason game. Long before the game had begun, Diego Rivera was trash talking, expecting it to be an easy game. They should have been surer of their abilities before insulting our team, because although our J.V. fell to the Huskies by a score of 20-6, the Varsity team gave them a fight.

With the crowds and the cheerleaders screaming their heads off, the game was sure to be exciting. Kick-offs began around 7:00 P.M. early in the game. Marquez took the lead, but struggled to extend it because of the horrible calls from the referees and Diego Rivera’s home field advantage. By the third quarter the score was 28-17 with Marquez falling behind by 11 points. Diego Rivera then went up to 35 points, but that would be their last point of the night. Marquez fought back and got ahead by the fourth quarter by a score of 39-35. The tide had turned and the domination of the game clearly went to Marquez. The team’s offense put Diego Rivera’s defense to shame. The Marquez offense had a total of 594 rushing yards. Two hundred and one of the yards came from #8 Pedro Molina, and 310 yards came from #3 Eric Alfaro. Later into the fourth quarter, Marquez widened the score to 45-35. The Huskies had been slain and a well-deserved victory went to our Marquez Gladiators. To win a game at our home feels spectacular, to beat another school at theirs feels even better.

Runningback Pedro Molina says, “We look good so far, but our expectations are high for this season. We will learn from each game and continue to work hard because hard work pays off.” The football team is looking good this season with two away wins in a row. They easily defeated Maya Angelou High School 47-0. Their next foe, Rancho Dominguez, gave Marquez a fight, but they crumbled under Marquez 27-13. Marquez was put to the test when they faced city rivals Huntington Park High School on the 19th of September. The Gladiators fell under the experienced Huntington Park High School football team and lost by a score of 42-6. The crowd, nevertheless, was electrifying, Even when the game seemed lost, the crowd never lost hope in the Gladiators. They kept chanting and screaming throughout the whole game. The Gladiators took this loss to the heart, but they haven’t let it damper their season. If the quote, “hard work pays off” is any bit true, then our Gladiators have a successful season in front of them because they have been working hard all year to reach their goal of being league champs.

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