From Staff Reports: There was no reason to be confident. Blair entered Saturday’s game at La Verne Lutheran on a 32-game losing streak They were facing the same Trojans’ team that defeated the Vikings, 80-6, in the first game of 2017. And in the first two games to start the 2018 season, the Vikings dropped […]
From Staff Reports:
There was no reason to be confident.
Blair entered Saturday’s game at La Verne Lutheran on a 32-game losing streak
They were facing the same Trojans’ team that defeated the Vikings, 80-6, in the first game of 2017.
And in the first two games to start the 2018 season, the Vikings dropped consecutive games to East Valley (36-6) and Fulton (44-0) in that order.
But to their credit, both the Blair coaches and players decided they were tired of losing and wanted to do something about it.
Blair came out ready to play, and without attempting a pass all game long, the Vikings left La Verne Lutheran on Cloud 9 with a 37-16 victory.
It was their first win as a program since a 20-0 victory on September 26, 2014 at the California Military Institute.
The Vikings rushed for over 200 yards on the ground.
Ajani Joseph and Adrian Padron paced the Blair running attack and each rushed for a pair of touchdowns.
Denzel Love also scored on the ground.
Miguel Salcedo kicked a short field goal and picked three passes on defense.
Matt Revilla didn’t attempt a pass at quarterback, but he was credited by second-year coach Erick Pineda as being a ‘strong General for Blair’ in the victory.
The 26-man roster was beyond excited.
“We had a good week of practice and I asked them to do something I never have,” Coach Pineda said. “I asked them to win this one for me. I told them I believed in them and after last year’s 80-6 loss to this same opponent, I had to answer a lot of questions as to how that could happen. I told them to trust the process and that we needed to continue to work hard and that good things would happen.
This had to be built from the ground up. And for the boys to see their hard work pay off is something I can’t explain in words. I am so happy for the players, the school and the program. It was a long wait, but it feels so good.”
Blair will be back at school on Labor Day today (Monday) but it will be pretty fun.
The players and coaches are going to watch film, order pizza and soda and enjoy what they accomplished 48 hours prior.
Starting Tuesday, though, it’s back to business to get ready for Friday’s 115-mile bus ride to take on Maricopa (0-1) in a nonleague contest.
Records: Blair (1-2); La Verne Lutheran (0-2)
