Photos by Henk Friezer
Justin Huff was named the starting quarterback for South Pasadena High this week and capitalized on the opportunity with a standout performance by throwing four touchdown passes Friday night in the Tigers’ 55-6 blowout win over visiting Riverside Prep of Victorville.
Huff was told on Wednesday by South Pasadena High coach Jeff Chi that he was going to get a chance to guide the Tigers’ first unit over Sydney Luna-Long, who has been hampered by a thumb injury since the second game of the season.
For now, it appears that Huff has won the starting quarterback job while Luna-Long is making big catches like he did a year ago for South Pasadena, when he was the Tiger’s top receiver.
On Friday night, Luna-Long looked like his old self by making four catches for 86 yards, including three touchdowns for 10, 28 and 18 yards. That tender thumb of a few weeks ago appeared to be fine as he fought through traffic to haul in some passes.
Doing all the passing was Huff, who looked confident under center as he completed 8 of 10 passes on the night for 180 yards.
“I talked to both players (Huff and Luna-Long) and they want to do what’s best for the team,” said Tigers’ coach Jeff Chi. “I think we got what we wanted from both players tonight. They had really good games.”
The Tigers leading rusher, Jackson Totleben, added significantly to outstand season, picking up 126 yards on 12 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Fullback Gavin Chi helped the Tigers cause by rushing for 76 yards on 13 carries, including a 3 yard touchdown run.
On the defensive side, Thomas Avila had two interceptions, returning one for a touchdown from 45 yards out.
South Pas travels to Alhambra next Friday to take on the Moors in their fifth non-league game.
