
By Jeff Ochavillo
Coming back from their first loss against Team Legacy, the Steel Blazers countered back by showing that they are still one of the top teams in the GWTFL by shutting out the Lady Spartans 32‐0 at the University of Guam football field Sunday afternoon.
From beginning to end, the Blazers were dominant on both ends of the field preventing any opportunities the Spartans had on scoring and proved how strong they were on offense.
In the front line leading the way for the Blazers was TJ Rodrigues who was involved in every play that had gotten the Blazers the big win whether it was passing or running the for the touchdown.
“With good morale and how the team constantly pushed each other in the team, it helped us gain back our unity within the team and prevented the stress from getting into each and every one of us,” said Rodrigues on how they were able to get the win.
The Blazers set the tone early in the first half started by Mel Manglona who caught an interception from the Spartans’ Kayleigh Brock who then stretched her run to the 23‐yard line. From there, Rodrigues handed off the ball to teammate Latoya Mojica who ran the sideline and reached the end zone for the touchdown, making the score 6‐0 with the incomplete conversion.
Few plays later Rodrigues spotted her receiver, Mae Pajaro, in the corner of the end zone where she tossed a rainbow pass that had gotten the ball straight into her hands making the score 12‐0.
With the ball in Spartans’ possession on the next drive they looked to turn the tables around by getting a couple of first downs. However, with big defense from the Steel Blazers it forced the Spartans to punt, giving the Steelers the ball possession.

Steelers Quarterback TJ Rodrigues rolls out on a sweep that led to a touchdown in their win over the Spartans. (photo by Rock Anciano)
After back-to‐back turnovers, Rodrigues lined the offense in the 20‐yard line and after getting the snap; she spotted Manglona in the corner again where she tossed the high ball where they met in the end zone for another touchdown with the score 18‐0.
Before the end of the half, the Spartans lost their possession from the defense of the Steelers who picked up a fumble by Paulette Nededog and then ran to the 12-yard line before getting tackled. From there, Mojica ran the offense as she took another handoff to get her touchdown of the game to extend the lead 24-0.
“We did our best, we fixed out mistakes, and we’re working more on our game technique‐wise,” said Rodrigues about her teams performance. Then she added, “but it was a hard fought game especially since we had a lot of injuries. But it was a good thing since it wasn’t as bad as the other team who had less players.”
In the last minutes of the last quarter, the Steelers Blazers’ quarterback took the last run to give the final points of game before ending the day. After coming up big from defense, Rodriguez lined up the offense and she faked the pass as she took off running from the 42‐yard line to sideline, maneuvering in and out of the Spartans defense and nearly tripping, she completes the touchdown to get the score up to 30‐0. Then she tosses the ball to Tricia Adkins to complete the conversion, thus concluding the score 32‐0.
The Steel Blazers came back with a win to tie with Team Legacy at 4‐1 after losing to them last game while the Spartans drop to 1‐4 in the season.
After hearing from the outcome of the previous came Rodrigues said, “no matter where you are in the totem pole, you can still fall.” She continues, “once you’re on the top, the only you can go is back down. But you have to keep pushing and for us we pushing ourselves to get back up there.” For the following games she added, “we have to reduce the amount of injuries on the team and really push hard because the next games will decide where we’ll be in the semi-‐finals.”
STANDINGS
Team Legacy5-1
Steel Blazers 5-1
Raiders 4-2
Spartans 1-4
Tough Chicks 0-5


GPS Sports Calendar
December 2023
- SU
- MO
- TU
- WE
- TH
- FR
- SA
Events for November
1st
ISA BOYS SOCCER
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
2nd
IRON LEGENDS THROWDOWN
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Events for December
4th
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER
ISA BOYS SOCCER
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
5th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL QUARTERFINALS
Events for December
5th
Events for December
7th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER PLAYOFFS
Events for December
9th
40th GRC PLUMERIA ROAD RACE
GUAM RUGBY INTERNATIONAL 7s TOURNAMENT
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
Events for December
10th
TOUR OF GUAM 2023
GUAM RUGBY INTERNATIONAL 7s TOURNAMENT
Events for December
11th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER SEMIFINALS
Events for December
12th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
12th
Events for December
14th
ISA HS BASEBALL
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER FINALS
Events for December
15th
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
IIAAG GIRLS BASKETBALL FINALS
Events for December
16th
3rd GUAM NINJA CHAMPIONSHIP
ISA HS BASEBALL
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Events for December
16th
Events for December
18th
IIAAG BOYS SOCCER ALL-ISLAND MEETING
Events for December
19th
ISA HS BASEBALL
ISA GIRLS BASKETBALL
Events for December
19th
Events for December
23rd
HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
ISA HS BASEBALL FINALS
Events for December
23rd
Events for December
24th
Events for December
25th
Events for December
27th
Events for December
29th
- 31
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Events for December
30th

Baseball
ROYALS DOWN FRIARS IN STATEMENT GAME

Basketball
3×3 HOOPS REPEAT AS GOLDEN BOYS

Basketball
RAPADAS LEADS WILD COUGAR COMEBACK

Baseball
GUAM HOSTS KIWIS IN U15 BASEBALL

Baseball
ROYALS DOWN FRIARS IN STATEMENT GAME

Basketball
SHARKS FEND OFF DOLPHINS IN GIRLS HOOPS
COMING SOON …
- IIAAG Girls Basketball Playoffs