EL SEGUNDO HERALD September 21, 2017 Page 5
It’s No Shocker as Eagles
Defeat Mira Costa
By Gregg McMullin
The El Segundo Eagles and Mira Costa
Mustangs renewed their playing days on the
gridiron on September 16 of last season after
not playing each other in over 20 years. The
Eagles shocked the world with a thrilling
18-14 win. The two teams met again 364
days later and this time it was no revelation
that the Eagles controlled the game and won
convincingly, 21-6.
The Eagles demonstrated to the football
world that last year’s win was no fluke. The
Eagles would win it in the trenches, running
the ball and throwing the ball. They won it on
special teams and they won it with a defense
that allowed just 175 yards of total offense.
Eagle quarterback Matt Romero is congratulated by coach Dan Heck after the Eagles defeated Mira Costa.
El Segundo’s line controlled the line of
scrimmage on both offense and defense. Jess
Caravello, Gunnar Rogers, Justin Delgado and
Ben Rosas were outstanding linemen going
both ways. Danny McEntee scored two rushing
touchdowns, picked up key first downs
and scored on a 90-yard kickoff return for a
touchdown. The defense held Mira Costa’s
explosive running game to a net 99 yards
on the ground and 75 yards through the air.
El Segundo took control early by going
74 yards in nine plays for a touchdown on
its first possession. Junior quarterback Matt
Romero found Devin Bonney for six yards
for a first down. Then he found Scott Melton
for another seven-yard gain and a first down.
It set up a 20-yard touchdown run up the
middle by McEntee.
Mira Costa’s offense moved the ball on the
ground on its first possession. On fourth and two
the defense led by Kyle Freeman, Tim Schartz
and Alex Ron stopped Mira Costa’s Malachi
McMahon short of the first down marker.
On Mira Costa’s next possession the Mustangs
were seemingly moving the ball towards
a score. On first and 10 at the El Segundo
11-yard line, McMahon was met by Schartz
who forced the fumble and the ball was
recovered by Jorge Montani.
The Mustangs took over at the El Segundo
38-yard line after the Eagles punted. Five
plays later, McMahon found an opening and
scored on a five-yard touchdown run. Schartz
swept through the line and blocked the PAT
and the Eagles held a 7-6 lead.
UCLA Bruins, Josh Rosen
Wilt in the Memphis Sun
By Adam Serrao
All of the talk this year surrounding the
UCLA football program has been centered
on Bruins quarterback Josh Rosen. Rosen, the
unquestioned leader of the Bruins, is touted
to be a top pick in next year’s NFL Draft,
if not the number one player off the board.
Last Saturday at Liberty Memorial Stadium
in Memphis, Tennessee, Rosen wasn’t the
quarterback blooming on the national stage
like all initially expected. Instead, Memphis
Tigers quarterback Riley Ferguson managed
to best Rosen in the game and in the stat
line. In doing so, the Tigers not only won the
game by a final of 48-45, but the unranked
team also illustrated just how vulnerable the
draft prospect and the Bruins can actually be.
The Bruins have looked rather flawed in multiple
areas during this year’s young college football
season. That much has certainly been clear,
beginning with UCLA’s game two weeks ago
against the Texas A&M Aggies in which Rosen
had to orchestrate a comeback from 34 points
down in order to pull out an extremely exciting,
nail-biting, last-second victory. Last week’s game
against Memphis may have been equally as
exciting…but despite the amount of big plays
and the massive score total, Rosen and the Bruins
not only had their luck run dry, but also may just
have been completely exposed in the process.
Ferguson didn’t just lead his team to victory.
He threw for 398 yards and six touchdowns
while matching, if not outplaying, Rosen every
step of the way. For all intents and purposes,
Rosen put up his share of decent numbers too,
throwing for a massive amount of 463 yards
and four touchdown passes on 56 attempts.
Despite those gaudy numbers, however, this
game was more about what Rosen didn’t do
as opposed to what he did do.
The game against Memphis marked the first
time in the Bruins’ initial three contests that
a flaw in Rosen’s game had sprung its nasty
head. Rosen, in UCLA’s pass-first offense,
did not throw an interception in either of his
team’s first two games and two victories of the
season. Last week, he managed to throw two
interceptions, one of which was returned 60
yards for a touchdown by Memphis linebacker
Tim Hart in the third quarter. Though Rosen’s
other interception wasn’t returned for points,
it came at an even worse time in the game.
With under seven minutes remaining and
UCLA looking for an edge that would give
it the game, Rosen’s second interception of
the afternoon not only stalled a Bruins drive
that was currently deep in Memphis territory,
but also wound up losing his team the game.
“I had no doubt we were going to go down
and score at the end,” said a dejected Rosen after
the game. “I just made some stupid mistakes. I
made 10 points worth of really bad plays.” For
the junior Rosen, this game, as much as any
that the starting quarterback has ever played
in, can be chalked up to a becoming a great
learning experience for a quarterback who will
undoubtedly wind up playing on Sundays next
year or the year after. In the meantime, however,
those mistakes were perhaps the biggest
reason that the Bruins lost their first game of
the season and have taken a step back in this
year’s college football Top 25 rankings.
UCLA head coach Jim Mora chimed in when
asked about the poor decisions made by his
star quarterback. “He made some really good
plays and obviously, he would love to have the
turnovers back,” Mora explained. “He has to
learn to be a little more careful with the ball.”
Even Rosen admitted that he was trying to do
too much to lead his team back from behind
and to a victory for the second week in a row.
“It’s trying to play hero ball,” he explained.
“You have to play within the system.”
That system may be as much to blame for
the loss as Rosen could be. Despite racking up
633 yards of total offense, the running game
looked to be almost anemic for most of the
day. In the box score, Jalen Starks came away
with six carries for 20 yards and a touchdown,
but he was the fifth running back on the roster
to even touch the ball. In all, seven players on
offense carried the football, including Rosen, for
a total of 170 yards. That’s not to mention the
defense that allowed one 100-yard rusher and
just less than 400 yards total receiving from
Memphis wide receivers. Five different Tigers
receivers caught touchdown passes, including
Anthony Miller who caught two and hauled
in 185 yards through the air.
The loss was a crushing blow for Rosen and
the Bruins, who entered the Top 25 for the first
time this year going into last week and held the
last spot in the rankings available. Now UCLA
will have a lot of work to do in order to erase
the mistakes made. Rosen will likely continue
to find success under center, but the Bruins will
attempt to get back into the rankings when they
take on the Stanford Cardinal in what should
be a tough matchup this week. Looking ahead,
UCLA’s schedule seems to sport a relatively
mild difficulty level, outside of matchups at
Washington and at USC later in the season. If
the Bruins want any shot at a possible Pac-12
championship or even a playoff appearance
this year, they’ll certainly have to limit their
mistakes and shore up what has already shown
itself to be a porous defense in order to do so.
– Aserrao6@yahoo.com •
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See Eagles, page 8
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