San Marino’s destination was crystal clear when Temple City visited Titan Stadium last Friday night for the final regular season varsity football game of the season, but that didn’t stop the hosts from putting forth one of its most consistent performances of the year as the Titans, in the legendary words of Frank Sinatra, made “those Rams scram” with a comprehensive 35-0 beatdown in front of a large Senior Night crowd. Senior Yohannes Zerihun, who has emerged as a legitimate star on the Titan defense, intercepted a pass to begin the onslaught and San Marino never looked back. Senior quarterback Connor Short scored on a two-yard run with just 26 seconds left in the first quarter and Jordan Evans booted his first of five extra points to make the score 7-0. A 20-yard completion from Short to Matthew Karapetyan provided a key first down during the scoring drive.
San Marino’s defense forced a punt and the Titans immediately went back on the attack. Short found junior Trond Grizzell open down the left sideline for a 40-yard completion to set San Marino up on the seven yard line. On the very next play, Short tossed a pass to Karapetyan in the left flat for the score and a 14-0 advantage.
Credit the Rams for perseverance and the visitors embarked on their best drive of the night on their next possession. But the Titans held on fourth and goal, taking over inside their own one-yard line with four minutes remaining in the half. A 38-yard completion to Grizzell, a 20-yard run by Short and an eight yard run by Michael Prappas found the blue-clad Titans in the end zone again for a 21-0 halftime lead and holders of what could be the longest drive in school history.
Short connected with the emerging Prappas, who is just a sophomore, for a 30-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Karapetyan capped the scoring with a three-yard run for the 35-0 final.
Though he didn’t score, Nick Singhal again shouldered the majority of the offensive load with 80 rushing yards on 12 carries while Short called his own number seven times for 45 yards. But the senior quarterback—who received the Earl Bruce Award after the game—did most of his damage through the air, completing a remarkable 13 of 15 passes for 245 yards and three touchdowns. Grizzell caught seven balls for 162 yards, Karapetyan snagged three for 33 yards and Prappas latched onto two for 36 yards, both for touchdowns.
Senior Seth Matzumoto again led the Titans in tackles with ten, followed by Seth Canul with eight, a sack and a tackle for a loss. Senior defensive tackle Kourosh Hassibi made three tackles, one for a loss, but statistics fall woefully short of quantifying his impact on a game as he regularly was blocked by two or three opponents. Singhal made four tackles and defended a pass as the Titans improved to 4-6 overall and 3-1 in the Rio Hondo League, good for second place and an automatic bid to the CIF playoffs.
Panther Sighting
And what a draw has San Marino received in the Orange High School Panthers, champions of the Golden West League, who will bring their 9-1 overall and 5-0 league marks into Friday’s CIF Division 10 playoff game, which will be played at Segerstrom High School with kickoff scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
“They are a good team,” said Mesa. “They want to run the ball and will also throw it if they need to. They have some very good athletes that they want to get into space. Their quarterback is an excellent game manager who can beat you with his arm and his legs. They are very stout and physical and intense on defense and we are going to have to match all three of those characteristics.”
Mesa said that the Titans have had “an excellent week of practice” preparing for the Panthers.
“We have to expect ourselves to play hard every week,” he added. “Playoffs or not, that has to be the standard. This is part of the culture that we are building.”
