The El Monte Lions will venture away from home to square off against the St. Anthony Saints at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. El Monte knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 31 points or more in their past seven contests -- so hopefully St. Anthony likes a good challenge.
Last Thursday, El Monte was fully in charge, breezing past Gabrielino 42-14. The matchup was pretty much decided by the half, when the score had already reached 28-7.
El Monte can attribute much of their success to Alex Aleman, who threw for 241 yards and three touchdowns on only 19 passes, and Isaiah Standley, who rushed for 101 yards and a pair of scores on only ten carries. The bulk of those rushing yards came from one huge play: a run that gained an incredible 65 yards. Another player making a difference was Aaron Rivera, who rushed for 96 yards on only nine carries.
They were just one part of a punishing run game: El Monte was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 303 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 240 rushing yards in four consecutive games.
On the other side of the ball, a lot of the credit has to go to El Monte's defense and their five sacks. Humberto Marin refused to say out of the backfield, picking up four sacks all by himself.
Meanwhile, it may have taken overtime to finish the job, but St. Anthony ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 13-10 win over Harvard-Westlake. The score was all tied up 7-7 at the break, but the Saints were the better team in the second half.
El Monte's victory was their seventh straight on the road dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 8-2. Those road wins came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 14.0 points on average over those games. As for St. Anthony, the victory was their first on the road , bumping their record up to 3-7.
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