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Sports

Wildcats Rally Past Glendora

The defending CIF champion Wildcats come on strong in the second half of a 29-16 nonleague football victory.

DeShawn Ramirez and Marquis Bias combined for over 200 yards rushing and three touchdowns as the defending CIF Southern Section Mid-Valley Champion, Monrovia Wildcats to opened the season with a 29-16 win over visiting Glendora. 

Ramirez was the star of the show, rushing for two of Monrovia’s three touchdowns on the ground.  His biggest play came though on special teams, as he returned a punt for 83 yards untouched. 

“Both of those guys made some big plays on the ground today,” Wildcats head coach Ryan Maddox said.  “Especially with Ramirez, that’s what he brings night in and night out.  He has the ability to make plays like that every time, which makes him a dangerous target.  It really helped us tonight.”

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The Wildcats (1-0) didn’t make things look easy though to start the game.  It seemed as if they were suffering through a championship hangover.  Not only were they held scoreless through their first four drives, penalties took away a number of key plays that would have had them knocking on the door to strike in the end zone.  Twice during those four drives they had two first downs called back because of holding penalties.  But the Wildcats never let up, quickly getting back into sync. 

“Playing through, we didn’t need to make any adjustments,” Wildcats quarterback George Frazier said.  “All we needed to do was tough it up, recognize all the blitzes, and get more serious.  We just needed to work hard and pull through.”

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Glendora (0-1) pulled ahead in the second quarter, set up by a short Monrovia punt that had them 35 yards to the end zone.  Three plays into the drive, Corey Victoria busted up the middle for a 12-yard touchdown.  A missed extra point left it at 6-0 for Glendora. 

After Glendora extended its lead with a field goal, the Wildcats closed the half in a big way when a handful of back- to-back pass plays by George Frazier set them up inside the Glendora 12.  Two plays later, Frazier found Anthony Craft up the middle and ran in to make it 9-7.

“Once we got into rhythm, our plays that we were used to played out perfectly,” Frazier said.  “From the end of the second quarter on, we came out and executed, knowing we wouldn’t let up.”

Things finally went Monrovia’s way.  Defensively in the third quarter, the Wildcats locked down and held Glendora from reaching midfield.  The third quarter was also Ramirez’s time to shine.  After a 52-yard strike from Frazier to Brandon Wingenbach, Ramirez ran up the middle to give the Wildcats a 15-9 lead.  On their next drive, Ramirez returned the punt for a touchdown to give Monrovia a 22-9 lead after three periods.  Bias added another rushing touchdown of 46 yards to put them up 29-9. 

 “In games like these, a win is all you can hope for,” Maddox said.  “You want to come out with a win and move on from here.  It was definitely a lot sloppier than what we would have hoped, and we made a lot of mistakes.  Our job now is to correct them and get ready for Arcadia.”

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