By Jeffery Ochavillo
Despite the blazing heat, the Angels surpassed roughed it out and came out victorious in Saturday’s matchup with the Saints.
The Angels extended their winning streak to seven games while taking the first place lead in the Manha division after exploding the 2nd quarter with two touchdowns, followed by another in the closing minutes of the game against the Saints. The Angels left the field with a victory of 20-0 on a hot Saturday morning at the UOG football field. The Saints took the loss and now are 6-1 after being pushed back by the stampeding defense of the Angels who were too fast to avoid.
It was a game of two undefeated teams fighting for the first place with the playoffs set to start next weekend. The game could be summarized as “calm before the storm” because it was a slow start, then the Angels started to bring the thunder. The two teams were going at each other with all they had.
Coming out of halftime with the Saints trailing 14-0, Saints were determined to make a comeback but the Angels would prevent that effort by any means. It was a total team effort for the Angels, but two key players in the Angels’ offensive attack were Sage Castro and Noah Mendler.
Sage Castro and Noah Medler thought the same thing when asked about their connections together in the offensive run, “All we did was run the plays that we taught to us” replied Castro. Mendler continued, “teamwork was important too because it helped us find easier ways of scoring which helped us win today.”
Their coach included that, “Key was teamwork. We don’t rely on one, but all. Today every player was responsive in their responsibilities when they were called upon. That’s our strength in this unit”
In the remaining minutes of the fourth, the Angels ran a draw play that gave Devon Camacho an open lane to retrieve a pass and run sideline to carry the ball for 20-yards before pushed out of bounds, only being a yard away from the end zone.
However, Saints held their defense and caused the Angels to commit two fumbles in the snapping process. The pressure was on the saint as that Angels were on the 4th down and down to their last attempt, but the Angels’ quarter back, Kymani Paulino took the snap and handed it off to Noah Medler who dove into the end zone for the last touchdown of the game. However, with the incomplete conversion, the score stayed at 20-0.
The Saints were plagued with turnovers. Many of their turnovers came from the high pressure of the Angels who forced the Saints to lose more yards after every down. Their passes were either incomplete or intercepted, and their runs were short ended when confronted by the wall of the Angels’ defensive line.
The Saints tried to get their offense flowing but could not find any connection with each other. They did catch a break when their quarterback, Leonard Tedtaotao gave a 15-yard pass to receiver Devon Aguigui who then stumbled on his feet and landed on the 36-yard line. But, the Angels had other plans and came back with two big defensive plays. In the 4th down, three Angel defenders ran past the line blockers and stampeded the Saints’ Tedtaotao who moved back but could not avoid getting tackled, thus leading to a committed the turnover and change of possession.
The very first touchdown came from Sage Castro who followed the same draw play in his other touchdowns. He took and ran the ball 10 yards to get the end zone to get him and his team started with their offensive momentum. The touchdown was followed by a conversion by Noah Mendler to put the Angels up 7-0 in the first.
In the 2nd Quarter, the Angels started continued their offensive streak by running a play with Sage Castro using another one of his draw plays and started running towards the end zone. He juked three Saints defenders and made one fall to the ground and ran through a gap and got the 40-yard run for the touchdown. The conversion was again completed by Noah Mendler to make the score 14-0 in the 2nd quarter.
Finishing off the regular season with a 6-0 record and heading into the playoffs, the stakes are high for the Angels has they hold onto the their two-time defending title and do not know what to expect next.
Angels’ Coach Ben gave a few of his words about the title and record, “an undefeated season does not really mean anything to us because it is all for nothing in the end when we achieve the ultimate goal (championship title). The other coaches and I have been mentoring the kids to disregard the records because in the playoffs, everyone is equal. A 7-0 record is a great accomplishment, but we cannot let it dwell and distract from what is really important.”
Playoffs will begin next week with the Angels placed first in the entire Manha division and finished the regular season with 7-0. The Saints are not far behind with only one loss from today’s game putting them at 2nd place with a record of 6-1.
Other scores:
Metgot Division
Saints 20, Angels 7
Matua
Saints 20, Angels 8
