A comprehensive highlight film for a three-year varsity football player like San Marino tailback Beau Hobbie might typically be drawn from a dozen or so games over a career to properly capture the impact of his running ability. After last Friday, one will suffice. To be more accurate, one half.
Hobbie was so elusive and dominant that El Monte High School’s defense is probably still trying to locate the shifty senior, who ran through, past, over and around the confounded Lions for 306 yards on 22 carries while finding the end zone six times in what amounted to about one half of football while leading the Titans to a 76-36 road victory.
At one point, El Monte’s frustrations built to the stage where they just threw Hobbie into a sand-filled long jump pit that is located near the west sideline, well after the whistle, possibly in the hopes he might stay there.
“That was one of the best running back performances I have ever seen,” said head Coach Mike Hobbie, who has seen a lot of great running back performances in his lifelong coaching career and typically downplays the exploits of his kin (Beau is his grandson).“He also had some really good blocking. I give credit to our offensive line of Darren Li, Carson Giles, Tommy Long, Joey Brunner and Nigel Landon. I am tough on them and they had a good night. Our wide receivers blocked well, too, and [quarterback] Kade [Wentz] did a good job making his run reads and running the ball hard, as well. We scored every time we had the ball which I would say is a pretty good offensive showing.”
Beau Hobbie rushed for 287 yards in the first half alone and could have compiled an historic total had San Marino not embarked on lead-preserving drives in the third quarter and scored enough points to send the contest into the running-clock phase for the entire fourth stanza, greatly limiting his opportunities.
San Marino enjoyed comprehensive success on the ground as Wentz (58yards), Smith (36yards), Neven Yarahmadi (17yards) and backup quarter back Connor Short (13yards) piled for an overall total of 434 total rushing yards, an average of 10.5 yards per carry.
The Titans also got touchdowns from Sean Richardson—who scored on a 91-yard kickoff return—defensive back Keaton Heimerl’s 35-yard fumble return, a 25-yard pass from Wentz to Wheeler Smith, and Short’s late run, which capped the scoring.
Kicker Jordan Evans was 10-for-11 on extra points and the miss—his first of the season—can be forgiven if only because of fatigue.
Defensively, Hobbie lauded Heimerl, Beau Perez and Mason Dawes for spirited efforts.
“They had some good athletes over there,” Hobbie said. “We played well when we did what we were supposed to do, but we also made some mistakes and that is why we gave up 36 points. We just had to score more than them. El Monte has a very powerful offense and our kids played hard. We are undersized and played courageously. And we never gave up.”
Senior Chris Wicke was credited with six tackles followed by Seth Matzumoto and Wentz (five apiece), Dawes, Smith and Heimerl (four each), Charlie Daves (3), Ethan Lainez (3) and Perez, who added a pair of stops.
Wounded Opponent…
The Santa Fe Chiefs come to town on Friday evening with an 0-3 record that Hobbie calls “very misleading.”
“Santa Fe has played some really good teams,” said Hobbie of the Chiefs, who have been competitive in losing to Fullerton, Crescenta Valley and West Hills. “Their record is not indicative of the team they are. They have over 100 players on their roster and that includes plenty of football players, too. It will take another well-executed game on both sides of the ball for us to compete. They are loaded with athletes. Their quarterback [Derek Dalhover] is very athletic and throws the ball well. They have a large offensive line, three very good running backs and a couple solid receivers. They are very much like Northview on the offensive line and that will present a challenge.”
Hobbie said the Titans need to execute well to stay in the game.
“We have to stay on our blocks,” the coach continued. “They do a lot of moving around on defense so we need to be smart and alert. We also have to contain their big-playmakers.”
Other than that, piece of cake.
And make sure that kid named Hobbie gets the ball every now and then, too.
