Coach Mike Hobbie warned his Titans to be on high upset alert last Friday night when they made their first road trip since early September, heading west for the annual Border War against South Pasadena.
And for good reason.
The Tigers had slid every single chip into the center of the table. It was Homecoming, senior night and South Pasadena’s last chance all rolled up into one and San Marino was coming off a painful loss in what turned out to be the Rio Hondo League championship game against Monrovia a week earlier. A Tiger win would qualify the rivals for the third playoff spot and break a seven-game losing streak to the Titans.
But it took the visitors just a matter of minutes to quell any thoughts of an uprising, taking a 21-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and a 41-0 advantage into the locker room at halftime before eventually subduing the Tigers by a final score of 55-14.
Junior Beau Hobbie – the coach’s grandson – found paydirt five times to pace the Titans, who improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the Rio Hondo League with the victory.
Senior quarterback Blake Cabot added two scoring runs and connected with junior Wheeler Smith for another as the Titan offense rolled, punting only once and putting the game into running clock mode before the break.
Beau Hobbie scored on runs of seven, one, five, seven and 29 yards, ending the evening with 173 yards on 18 carries.
John Hutchison caught three of Cabot’s passes for 43 yards, Dereck Gerhardt snagged three for 40 yards and Smith nabbed four for 75 yards and a score.
Cabot added 175 yards on the ground on 17 carries and completed 13 of his 19 passes for 174 yards. In all, the Titans amassed 532 yards of total offense, and that with one foot on the brake for the entire second half. A most telling statistic: San Marino ran 66 plays and picked up 24 first downs.
Conversely, South Pasadena managed only 14 yards of total offense for the first half and treated the midfield stripe as it it was an electrically charged cattle fence. On their first foray into Titan territory, the Tigers fumbled, with the help of San Marino’s Wheeler Smith, who stripped and then retrieved the bouncing ball.
Senior linebacker Kade Wentz led the swarming Titan defense with his jersey number (11) in tackles, followed by Chris Wicke with ten. Caleb Shohfi (8), Greyson Garcia (6) and Jack Hornberger and Wheeler Smith, who chipped in with five apiece.
Aloisio Figueira was successful on seven of eight extra points and added two sacks from his nose tackle position and senior Ryan Sabin added another.
“We played very smart and very hard tonight,” said Coach Hobbie. “When I got this job, I heard everyone say ‘South Pas, South Pas, South Pas’ so I know this is an important game. This is always a nice win.”
Summit Redux…
San Marino welcomes a familiar playoff opponent to Titan Stadium on Friday night when Summit comes calling for a 7:00 p.m. CIF Division 6 first round contest. San Marino defeated the Skyhawks 35-30 during the Titans’ historic 2015 season, which included Rio Hondo League and CIF titles as well as an appearance in the State championship game.
Don’t let Summit’s 5-5 record – which includes a 2-3 mark in Sunkist League play – fool you. The Skyhawks have faced off with schools such as Fontana, Colton, Kaiser and Grand Terrace.
“They have a lot of weapons,” said Coach Hobbie.
Tailback Prezhaun Norman has rushed for over 700 yards and quarterback Troy Temmink has passed for 1,700 more.
The Skyhawks’ defense has been particularly stingy, yielding less than 20 points in each of their 5 wins.
