By Jose Terlaje
The overcast weather was pleasing to the hundreds of spectators at Raider’s Field in Tiyan, ready to see the battle of the titans between the undefeated the Hal’s Angels (4-0-1) and the undefeated Guam Raiders.(4-0-1) Both teams would leave the field still undefeated with the game resulting a 16-16 tie.
Immediately after kick-off these two top teams started to apply the pressure on each other. The Raiders attempted to establish their running game with running back Brandon Salumbides but would get stopped by the Angels defense. On just the second snap of the game, the Angels recovered a fumble deep in Raiders’ territory, moving the ball the other way from the Raiders’ 25-yard line.
With the ball in the Angels’ hands, they turned to their running backs Lawrence Castro and Javier Lujan to move the ball down the field, bringing them to the four yard line. Angels quarterback Calvin Aguon then called his own number and ran five yards down the field into pay dirt. Tyler Pangelinan would convert the PAT putting the Angels up 8-0.
After a failed onside kick by the Angels, the Raiders took possession of the ball at half field. An offside penalty on the defense would put the ball at the Angels’ 45-yard line. The Raiders continued to use their run game with Salumbides running for six yards. Two plays later the Raiders handed the ball off to Javon Garrido who took off down the sideline breaking a tackle and dashing by every defender, taking the ball into the end zone on a 40 yard carry. “Fast” Fred Lumogda of the Raiders would convert on the PAT tying the score 8-8.
A penalty was called on the Raiders’ kick-off, moving the kicker five yards back for a re-kick. The loss of yardage did not matter though with the Raiders’ defense making stops on all Angels’ plays, forcing a quick three-and-out for the Angels’ offense. The Angels then punted the ball back to the Raiders.
The Raiders looked to their run game again but after a failed run play resulting in a huge loss of yards, Raiders quarterback Dylan Parke looked to the air but was intercepted by the Angels’ Pangelinan, giving the ball back to the Angels at their 31 yard line. The Angels would yet again be stopped by the Raiders aggressive defense, making big plays that forced the Angels back, giving them negative yardage and forcing them to punt the ball once more.
The Raiders would recover the ball on the Angels 46-yard line and make good use of their field positioning. They handed the ball off to Garrido again carrying the ball through the trenches for a 20 yard run, bringing the Raiders to the Angels’ 26 yard line. The Raiders would call upon halfback Coby Gogue to pick up some short yardage on the next play. The next three snaps, Parke would call his own number, bringing the ball down 23 yards and into the end zone, putting the Raiders in the lead. Lumogda hit the two-point conversion again, giving the Raiders a 16-8 lead.
At the kick-off after the try, Angels’ Makoa Bamba returned the ball down the field for 30 yards, breaking numerous tackles on his way to the Raiders’ 41 yard line. The Angels looked to Lujan and Aguon to run the ball but could not get a good rhythm going. With just 1:15 seconds left, the Angels made a substitution at quarterback. Kobe Quiambao would come in for Aguon with fresh legs and a fresh arm. After a failed pass attempt on second down, Quiambao connected on a deep pass to Bamba for 27 yards and the touchdown. Pangelinan was successful on the two-point conversion, knotting the game at 16-16.
At the start of the second half, the Raiders kicked off to the Angels who struggled to get back into offensive rhythm after scoring just before halftime. Quiambao would stay at quarterback for the Angels. After a few short run plays, Quiambao would look to the air again but was intercepted by the Raiders’ Noah Diaz who ran for 30 yards, with 10 yards being retracted due to an illegal blocking penalty on the Raiders.
With a minor injury to Parke, Andrew Blas would come in as quarterback for the Raiders while Parke recovered. Without Parke running the offense, the Raiders could not run their plays efficiently, only coming up with short run plays with some yards being lost due to a false start by the offense. The Raiders eventually turned it over on downs just three plays after intercepting the ball.
On this next possession, the Angels went back to the running game with Castro and Lujan making big runs through traffic, inching their way through Raiders’ territory. When the Angels got within the Raiders’ 28 yard line, the Raiders’ defense began to crack down on the Angels’ running backs, forcing them to pick up minimal yardage. On a second down run play, the Raiders’ Lumogda made a big tackle for a four yard loss, bringing the Angels to third-and-five. The Angels attempted a pass play but Quiambao was forced to throw an incomplete pass due to a big pass rush by the Raiders’ Khimo Perez. The Angels went for it on fourth down with Quiambao throwing another incomplete pass, turning over the ball with 1:15 left in the game.
The Raiders got possession of the ball on their own 16 yard line. They attempted to move the ball down the field on the ground but were not too successful. Neither team utilized timeouts with seconds left; running down the clock, ending the game with the score tied 16-16.
Raiders’ Coach Fred Pangelinan said his team came into the game with the mindset of using their usual game plan of running the ball even though the team’s offense had a few key players out due to injury.
Pangelinan stated “We have other players that have experience in playing the positions we were missing so we just made simple adjustments and put in some of our guys that don’t normally play the positions but have done so in the past.”
Defensively, Pangelinan said, “We do a lot of chalk talk to help our defense learn to strategize and make our secondary understand what they need to do when they see certain formations”
When asked what his game plan was coming into this game against another undefeated team in the league, Angels’ Coach Ivan Shiroma said “We usually just wait and see what the defense has to offer and then we go from there. The defense actually dictates to us how we’re going to run our offense. Whatever they give us, we adjust from there.”
Shiroma said, “We tried to give them(the team) different looks and tried to attack differently, both on the ground in the air, but going up against a good, well disciplined team, they were able to negate all of our adjustments. It was just a good game. Both teams were even and the score reflected that” when asked about the adjustments he made that caused the Angels to put points up on the board. Shiroma went on to say that the Angels will move forward from this tie and work on the things that didn’t work in the game but it will depend on the style of the next team they challenge because it is all a matter of adjusting.
It was a hard-fought game for both teams with neither being able to dominate the other. Both coaches tipped their hats off to the other team for their exceptional play. Although the game resulted in a tie, both teams did not come into the game undefeated for no reason. It was truly a good showing of the level of offensive and defensive skill needed to be considered a top team in the league.
