The South Pasadena Tigers varsity football team dominated the Mountain View Vikings (El Monte) Friday night, 35-14, in their first preseason game at home in front of about 250 fans.
But this night belonged to No. 20, Ivan Estrada, who scored four touchdowns for a combined total of 265 yards. Estrada ran the ball for a touchdown. He caught passes for touchdowns and ran back an 88-yard kick-off for another score. He electrified the crowd with his play because it seemed like every time he touched the football, he scored.
“I brought it to the house tonight,” Estrada said after the game. “But this team is amazing. We’ve a great bunch of guys and you can’t do it alone. Tonight was a lot of fun.”
Ironically, Tiger Head Coach Jeff Chi said Estrada, a junior, was ambivalent about playing football at all. This was Estrada’s first varsity game.
“I think tonight he may look at things a little differently,” Chi said after the game.
In the first half, the Tigers were having a difficult time stopping the Vikings ground game, which was every single play.
They ran a single wing out of a shotgun formation that was effective in the early stages of the game. The first half ended in a 14-14 tie.
Chi appeared to have adjusted his game plan during halftime because in the second half his defense kept the Vikings out of the end zone. The Vikings didn’t even attempt a pass until the end of the fourth quarter when the game was well out of their reach.
Read all about the game, the complete interview with Estrada and Coach Chi and the black out that put the stadium into complete darkness with 3:33 left to go in the game in this week’s print edition of The Review.
