The Monrovia Wildcats will head out on the road to face off against the San Marino Titans at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Monrovia fell on hard times earlier this season, but after back-to-back wins it seems like their luck might finally be changing. They took their contest at home on Thursday with ease, bagging a 54-22 victory over Polytechnic. Given Monrovia's advantage in MaxPreps' California football rankings (they are ranked 365th, while Polytechnic is ranked 737th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Brian Salazar Jr, who rushed for 105 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries, and also threw for 273 yards and two touchdowns while completing 80% of his passes. Noah Ellison was in the mix as well, providing Monrovia with two touchdowns.
Meanwhile, San Marino had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 22.8 points), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They blew past Temple City 57-7 at home. The match was all but wrapped up at the end of the third, by which point San Marino had established a 43 point advantage.
Coleman Morning was the offensive standout of the game as he rushed for 134 yards and three touchdowns on only eight carries. Julian Solis was another major influence, as he rushed for 86 yards and ran in a TD.
Monrovia is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-3 record this season. As for San Marino, their win was their fifth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-1.
Everything came up roses for Monrovia against San Marino in their previous meeting back in October of 2022 as the squad secured a 45-16 victory. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was San Marino's Ryan Singhal, who rushed for 208 yards and a touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Thursday, will it be that much easier for Monrovia to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.
