By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Don’t let the final score fool you, Maranatha was in control throughout. The Minutemen defeated visiting Pasadena, 36-21, in a nonleague game that saw Maranatha take a 29-0 lead into the break. Kwon Peterson continued a torrid pace to his senior year with three more touchdowns, and threw for nearly […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
Don’t let the final score fool you, Maranatha was in control throughout.
The Minutemen defeated visiting Pasadena, 36-21, in a nonleague game that saw Maranatha take a 29-0 lead into the break.
Kwon Peterson continued a torrid pace to his senior year with three more touchdowns, and threw for nearly 200 yards.
Peterson now has 7 TD’s in two games to start the 2017 season.
Pasadena looked to make a run in the second half.
Jaloni West started the comeback when he took the kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
Pasadena then held Maranatha and got the ball back, and on their first offensive play of the second half, Daron Derderian hit Jalen Jolley on a 41-yard scoring strike.
It seemed the Bulldogs had every bit of the momentum after the two scores and appearing to stop Maranatha on the second drive of the second half.
But an undisciplined effort for much of the contest cost the Bulldogs mightily.
Instead of getting the ball back after the stop, Pasadena was called for two personal fouls and the ref’s marched off 30 yards.
It didn’t just extend a drive that was over, Maranatha took advantage of the second chance on that drive and turned it into points.
The irony of it all was that former Pasadena player Awan Parker was the one who scored the final touchdown against his former teammates.
Daron Dederian played better than his 10 of 23 for 82 yards might look on paper.
He was hurried all game and that, coupled with a few drops, spelled doom for the Bulldogs (0-2).
Dederian ended the night with his second TD of the game.
This time it was to Anthony Santellan from 8 yards out with less than a minute to play in the game.
Another play that kind of shocked many happened in the first half and Maranatha holding a 14-0 lead.
Dederian was alluding a rush, and threw a (backwards) lateral to a teammate, who apparently didn’t understand the rules.
The pass bounced towards him, but as many know, a backwards pass is a ‘live ball.’
The Bulldogs player made a half-hearted attempt at the ball and Maranatha defensive end Vic Hoffman picked it up and brought it back for a 25-yard touchdown.
Hoffman said he was surprised the Pasadena player didn’t make a real effort at the ball and even more so that he didn’t try and stop Hoffman from scoring.
His TD put Maranatha up 21-0 and Pasadena never got closer than 29-14.
The game lasted three hours and five minutes.
Much of that due to an estimated 40-plus penalties, and if that weren’t bad enough, there were ashes floating around all game from a fire in nearby Glendale.
The game was so tediously long that at 10:30, when players and coaches were still talking to the media, and parents and fans were just starting to leave, the lights went out in the entire stadium because of a curfew rule with the lights, we were told.
Jack Goodman caught a 35-yard TD pass from Peterson, and then Jacob Moreno had the other two scores.
Moreno and Peterson connected on TD passes of 42 and 20 yards, and the sophomore finished with 123 receiving yards.
As many expected, two Pasadena schools battling it out on the football field can get heated and often chippy.
Friday night was no exception, and it cost Maranatha two players getting ejected.
On the other side, in the video, if you look in the upper left corner that starts around the 3:29 mark, watch for Pasadena’s No. 11 landing two punches (one to the facemask) to a Maranatha player.
Apparently, the ref’s did not see the scrum.
Maranatha won just three games all last year, and didn’t pick up their first victory until the fourth game.
The Minutemen have scored 70 points in their first two games, and it took five games last year until they reached that point total.
Maranatha (2-0) will host Azusa next Friday.
If things were frustrating enough for PHS on Friday at Maranatha, they’re only going to get worse next weekend when the Bulldogs host Angelus League power St. Francis.
The Golden Knights scored 48 points on Thursday in a win over Mira Costa, and rookie quarterback Darius Perrantes threw for 6 TD passes in his first varsity start.
Quotable:
Maranatha coach Steve Bogan: “Our play-action pass again went very well. Kwon Peterson managed the offense and showed a lot of poise. Our defense was tremendous. We’re still working on our running game. (Penalties) are like a time out, and even when it goes your way, you kind of get knocked out of rhythm.”
Maranatha quarterback Kwon Peterson: “We just got too up on ourselves like last week when we got ahead early. You can’t give up. The penalties definitely slowed down the pace of the game for us. I feel pretty comfortable and trust my lineman.”
Maranatha receiver-running back Jacob Moreno: “I think the slowdown in the second half (sluggish offense) was the conditioning part. We need to work harder at practice. I think we’re a very disciplined team, but because we played another team from Pasadena, it got kind of rough.”
Maranatha defensive end Vic Hoffman: “I saw the ball and I didn’t hear a whistle and I saw him (the running back) standing, there so I was like ‘all right, no whistle, so I’m going to pick it up and run it in.'”
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