DOLPHINS BRING THE ‘D’ IN 26-0 WIN

By Patrick Lujan

The Southern High football program has shown steady growth over the past three seasons and it was evident Saturday night with an impressive 26-0 shutout over the JFK Islanders, improving to 3-0 in the 2024 ISA Football League.

Senior quarterback Eden Del Rosario ran for two touchdowns in the fourth quarter and linebacker Braven Chaco led the Dolphins defense with 7.5 tackles and limiting the JFK offense to just eight yards of total offense.

Despite the final score, Southern coach Justin Cruz expected a better night out of his squad.

“I’m not happy with the performance of the team tonight, but it’s a good learning experience now on what we have to fix by playoffs,” Cruz said.

The Dolphins did struggle with 15 penalties and a slew of fumbles that could be costly later in the season.

“⁠Ball security gonna be one thing we hold the RBs accountable for. We just gotta go back to the drawing board and work basics.”

After a quick first quarter, Southern got on the board on the first play of the second quarter when Jaden Escuadra took a pitch left, shifted inside and sprinted untouched for a 27-yard score. Escuadra had a solid, all-around game on both sides of the ball, leading the Dolphins with 62 yards rushing on nine carries and added 6.5 tackles on defense.

Del Rosario takes over in 2nd half

Southern’s steady quarterback had a hand in the rest of the scoring. Midway through the 3rd, Del Rosario lofted a pass to a double-teamed Thomas Dela Cruz down the right side. Dela Cruz made the appropriate adjustment in the air, snagged it in between the two defenders before finding his way into the end zone for the 31-yard score and a 12-0 lead.

In the 4th quarter, Del Rosario used his legs to score twice – both in the same fashion. On 4th-and-13, Del Rosario scrambled left and strolled down the left sidelines for 23 yards to put the game out of reach. On their next possession, it was deja vu as Del Rosario took off to the left in the same manner, this time from 18 yards to cap off the scoring.

“I’m very happy with my QBs performance,” coach Cruz said. “He made mistakes, but most important he moved on to the next play and showed one mistake doesn’t define you as a player. He’s really exciting to coach – the kid can do it all. Just some polishing up on the coverage reads and he should be better.”

Del Rosario finished 7-14-0 84 yards, TD.

The Southern offensive line was also noticeably effective, clearing the way for its runners for a total of 173 rushing yards.

Southside D

While linebacker Chaco was flying all over the place for his 7.5 tackles (three for lost yards), the rest of the defense held their lanes and prevented the Islanders from any big plays or offensive threats. Edge’rien Escuadra picked up an easy INT midway through the 4th quarter.

The biggest play for JFK was on a broken play early in the game when quarterback Steven Concepcion scrambled for 18 yards on 3rd-and-long. All of JFK’s 11 penalties were on its offense.

Defensively for the Islanders, DT Joseph Delos Santos had five tackles and CB Javier Cruz added four.

Earlier in the afternoon, the Okkodo Bulldogs picked up their first win with a narrow 7-0 victory over the Sanchez Sharks.

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