MID-CITIES LEAGUE FOOTBALL: Gahr’s defense holds serve in battle of short-handed teams

October 12, 2026

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

Gahr High’s offense piled up nearly 300 yards on offense against Norwalk High last Friday, but the final score and the statistics proved it was more of a defensive challenge. Both teams combined for five interceptions thrown by three quarterbacks, punted eight times while two rushing touchdowns, a passing touchdown, an interception returned for a touchdown, a field goal and a safety accounted for all the scoring as the visiting Gladiators squeaked past the Lancers 16-14.

Following a missed 37-yard field goal attempt by Gahr junior Matthew Barcelos with 2:26 left in the game, the Lancers could only generate 15 yards of offense before an incomplete pass on fourth down ended a chance to get into field goal territory.

“Defensively, I thought we played very well,” said Gahr head coach Greg Marshall. “But without our two best offensive guys, it was more than we thought.”

“We tried to run the football to get the defense to play us honest because we knew they were going to play some type of quarters; some type of soft zone to make us thread it in there,” said Norwalk first-year head coach Anthony Cobbs. “They knew we were lacking [players]; we don’t have a ton of speed. We have a couple of guys who can run pretty good; I’m not sure they can run as good as the Gahr defensive backs. We could not really get beyond them, so we had to try to get them to make a mistake, and they did. On a deep ball, we got a pass interference call, which gave us life.”

The Gladiators were without the services of junior Branden Martinez, who was ejected the previous week against Paramount High while the Lancers sat out senior running back Erick Dominguez, who was injured after last week’s game against California. Dominguez admitted to Cobbs that he could go but still did not play. Both players are expected to play on Friday.

The scoring got started on the fourth play of the game when Gahr was set to punt from inside its 20-yard line, but a bad snap sailed just past the endzone for a safety. Later in the quarter, Gahr (4-2-1, 1-1) took the lead when sophomore quarterback Kalen Swanson tossed a 47-yard touchdown pass to junior Miguel Lopez.

The score remained 7-2 until just under three minutes remained in the first half when the Lancers regained the lead following a two-yard run from senior running back David Ibarra. But a fumble on the second play of Norwalk’s next possession gave the Gladiators life near midfield and they drove down to the 25-yard line before Barcelos booted a 42-yard field goal with 11 seconds remaining.

The tempo heated up with 5:17 remaining in the third quarter and lasted through the opening minutes of the final stanza. First, Gahr free safety Jacob Burson picked off Norwalk sophomore Jeremiah Lopez at the Gahr 43-yard line. Six plays later, Norwalk senior linebacker Riley Howard intercepted a Swanson pass and returned it 70 yards for a score, making it 14-10.

“Jeremiah was just a little bit flustered tonight and just couldn’t get it going,” said Cobbs. “I was just trying to get a spark, and it just didn’t happen. Gahr’s defense did a good job of playing bend but don’t break and they didn’t give us very many lanes to throw it to.”

Following the ensuing kickoff, Gahr regained the lead for good when senior running back Nick Washington busted loose for a 72-yard touchdown run. Then two plays after that, Burson intercepted senior quarterback Johnniele Madera at the 46-yard line and took it back to the Gahr 17-yard line. Gahr ran three plays before junior defensive back David Pelayo picked off Swanson in the endzone.

“It was crazy,” said Marshall of that sequence of events that led into the fourth quarter. “We had an opportunity to go for a field goal to go up by five and I don’t trust kicking the ball off today. If we kick the ball off, they might return it for a touchdown the way things are going.”

After Norwalk (1-6, 0-2) was stalled at its own 15-yard line, Ibarra punted with 7:52 remaining in the game where Gahr drove down to the 20-yard line before Barcelos missed a 37-yard field goal attempt which would have sealed the game. But the Lancers could only get to their own 35-yard line following four straight incomplete passes.

“We both looked like a little bit out of sorts,” said Marshall. “They didn’t run some stuff we normally have seen in the running [department], but probably because they were missing some guys; it limits what you can do. That’s just one of those games you’re just glad to get away with a win. When you go on the road going to Norwalk; win a league game on the road and when you play bad, you can’t be mad.”

Swanson completed seven passes for 96 yards but was intercepted three times. Marshall indicated that Martinez would probably be the quarterback on Friday when the Gladiators host California. Washington gained 106 yards on 13 carries while Payne added 49 yards on 10 carries. Defensively, Lopez had 14 tackles while senior lineman R’shon Livingston and junior linebacker Nathan Moreno added nine and eight tackles, respectively. Livingston also had one and a half sacks.

“He had guys open; he was just misfiring,” said Marshall of Swanson. “We were hoping he would be advancing at a quicker pace.”

For the Lancers, senior running back Jayden Barrios rushed seven times for 17 yards and senior Jordan Ballinger had 14 carries for 10 yards while Lopez completed a pair of passes for 13 yards. Norwalk punted five times out of its 11 possessions and had five first downs.

“Both teams were dealing with a lot of injuries and both teams had young quarterbacks,” said Cobbs. “So on defense, we were either feast or famine. The defensive play we gave up for a long [touchdown] run, that didn’t help at all. I think both of their touchdowns came off busted plays where we had guys in the wrong gaps.

“We had two teams that are really young in certain spots whereas we have a very heavy senior-laden team, but most of our contributors are underclassmen,” he continued. “It’s just a matter of two teams not having a workhorse; two teams that don’t have necessarily a guy that they know is going to score two or three touchdowns.”

The Gladiators will host California on Friday with the winner staying in the top three of the league which would guarantee an automatic berth to the playoffs while Norwalk will host Santa Fe High with that winner avoiding sole possession of last place.

“We usually throw against [California] in the summer, so we know each other,” said Marshall. “In this league, besides Paramount and Bellflower now…is here to stay. Norwalk, us, Cal and Santa Fe…I think we’re all just good football teams [and] whoever is the best or worst sometimes, in the case of [tonight]…I didn’t think either team played well.”

“I’m very confident that we’ll be successful,” said Cobbs. “But I’m still proud of these boys. We’ve played a different brand of ball every week and we’re getting very close to having some success with that. I know there are no moral victories, but at the same time, just the way they played tonight with the least number of players we’ve had all season to suit up…we had at least eight to 10 players not suit up tonight due to injuries. We didn’t have depth that we normally have.

“Like I just told the guys after the game, don’t put your heads down,” he later said. “[They] are so blessed to be able to come out again next week and [they’ll] have this type of atmosphere. It was electric; [they] have one win and these people are still out here encouraging [them] and cheering for [them]. Next week, I think we have a similar type of a team to Gahr and to Cal High. It just comes down to a matter of who has the fortitude and the moxie to not make more mistakes than the other team. I think it’s a very winnable game for us. I think we’ll have momentum from tonight knowing that we’ll be able to get three to five starters back next week.”