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November 11, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
Gahr High may have been without injured senior Markell Slaughter, the team’s leader in offensive yards this season. But La Puente High entered Dr. Hanford Rants Stadium last Friday night in a worse situation as their starting quarterback and leading rusher were sidelined with injuries.
The patchwork job La Puente had to do was too much to overcome as the Gladiators, the top-seeded team in the CIF-Southern Section Division 13 playoffs, received a banner night from senior running back Dylan Richburg and a pair of defensive touchdowns in a 41-14 win that was put away midway through the second quarter.
“After going up to [Quartz Hill] last year, and losing in the first round, that really changed this team’s mindset,” said Richburg. “Going 5-5 in the regular season is crazy, but we were able to flip it around and dominate and do what we needed to do.”
This was Gahr’s first playoff win since 2007 when that team advanced to the semifinals. Since then, the Gladiators had lost five straight playoff games, including last season’s 28-7 contest to Quartz Hill High in a Division 11 contest.
La Puente starting quarterback Ezekeil Zamora (broken collarbone) had passed for 1,818 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushed for 516 yards with another six touchdowns while Aaron Silva (broken ankle) had gained 986 yards with 16 touchdowns. Without those two, the Warriors were limited to 195 yards with half a dozen players gaining at least a yard either on the ground or receiving.
“I thought we were pretty comfortable whether they had their guys or not to run the football,” said Gahr head coach Greg Marshall. “So, we wanted to go out, establish the run game because the last couple of weeks, we kind of went away from it.”
With the Warriors missing their top playmakers on offense, Marshall said the game plan was to come out and control the line of scrimmage. And that’s what the Gladiators did immediately as Richburg gained 62 yards on the first seven plays of the game before junior wide receiver Jai’Dyn Backus scored from a yard out four minutes into the game. After a quick three and out, Gahr (6-5) went back to work and ran 10 plays, gaining 99 yards and using another 4:10 to go up 13-0 as Richburg scored on a four-yard run.
“That was a nice surprise, right,” commented Marshall. “We have a little depth. The nice thing is all those guys play defense, and they all take turns running the football, which really helps us.”
“With me running the ball and Jai’Dyn running the ball, I trust that we could set the tone and keep pushing,” said Richburg.
La Puente, which ends its season on a two-game losing streak, the only two losses of the season, thought it had something going when quarterback Diego Sandoval, who had thrown for 76 yards in the regular season as a backup, connected with Ivan Lopez for an eight-yard pass on fourth down. But three plays later, Sandoval was picked off by senior defensive back Adrien Ramirez who went 79 yards the other way for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead.
Both teams traded punts, but with 5:41 left in the first half, senior safety Ja’Shon Wallace forced a fumble that was scooped up by senior safety Isaac Gutierrez and 25 yards later, he was in the endzone. Sandoval was able to score from two yards out with 1:19 left in the half, but by now, the hosts clearly had the momentum, which carried into the second half.
La Puente had driven to the Gahr 22-yard line after its 11th play of the drive. But on fourth and seven, Sandoval was intercepted by junior cornerback Alexander Gutierrez. That would be parlayed into Richburg’s second touchdown of the night, a four-yard run with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter.
For added measure, he would score on a six-yard run with 5:53 left in the game, making it 41-6 and ending a seven-play, 49-yard drive. It was the only possession the Gladiators had in the stanza.
Richburg had a season-high 143 yards on 21 carries; his previous high was 125 yards on a dozen carries against Firebaugh High on Oct. 25 while Backus picked up 58 yards on seven rushes. Junior quarterback Roman Acosta was seven of eight passing for 89 yards.
“I never expected that, but I definitely thought we would run the ball well, because that was probably the weakness of their team,” said Marshall of Richburg’s performance. “The strength of their team is when they have their [starting] quarterback, their [leading] running back and their tight end. They were missing three guys; I know what that’s like. It’s hard to perform.”
“Honestly, I did it before, but Markell is a huge part of the team,” said Richburg. “We hope to get him back next week and continue our domination and keep it going. But honestly, it’s all props to the [offensive] line and my guys.”
Gahr’s defense did not allow many big plays by the Warriors, who had three of their 31 rushes go for more than 10 yards and Sandoval completed five passes for 62 yards Senior linebacker Isaiah Portillo led the way with six tackles while Richburg added four and half tackles.
“Defense just dominated today,” said Richburg. “It comes down to intensity, concentration and execution, like our coach always says. And we executed our job, had the intensity and did what we needed to do to get the win.”
Gahr will visit Artesia High on Friday, the first meeting between the ABC Unified School District schools since 2017. Artesia rallied to defeat Desert Hot Springs High 31-27 last Friday on the road.
“It’s been a long time,” said Marshall of getting to the quarterfinals. “We think we’re going to get there every year, but no. But it feels good. I like this team; I think we’re solid. We’re getting better and we look better executing and stuff at the right time.”
“We’ve been wanting it for a while,” said Richburg. “They’ve been ducking us for a little bit, but…it’s going to be a good game.”
