Odds Were Stacked Against Them

The Eastlake Titans made the trip from Chula Vista last Friday night. They entered Tiger Stadium with a 0-3 record and felt determined to not go home with a 0-4 record. San Jacinto’s defense was playing short-handed. Three key defensive starters sat out this week for various reasons — one in the second two on the defensive line. The backups tried their best to give pressure and shut down Eastlake’s running game, but it just wouldn’t be enough. Eastlake continued to punish San Jacinto inside basically running it up the middle over and over again without much variation. San Jacinto’s coaches consistently told the players what was going to happen, but it didn’t matter. Eastlake wanted to prove the point that they can run the football. Their Passing game was in-effective San Jacinto’s secondary did a great job of shutting that down. 

Junior Defensive Back/Safety Keith Hunter made a few great defensive plays, which made Eastlake re-think passing the football, he got his hands on the ball two plays in a row and barely missed out on the chance to come out with the interceptions. Senior Safety Kameron Rocha was laying down big hits and shedding blockers all night as well. One can’t help but think that this game would have been dramatically different if San Jacinto’s defensive unit would have been completed.

On the Offensive side of the ball, the team struggled to get anything going; it’s hard to tell if it was self-sabotage or Eastlakes energy and passion that was making hard for the Tigers. Kajiya Hollawayne (Tigers Dual-Threat QB) wasn’t seeing any openings when being forced to scramble out of the pocket, and Juan Denny (Tigers Senior RB) was being met at the line of scrimmage with two or three defenders every time he touched the ball. Eventually, Coach Galliano decided to start throwing the ball, and Kajiya Hollawayne started to connect with Junior Wide Receiver Damonce Williams on a consistent basis, but Eastlake figured out that Damonce was Kajiya’s most reliable receiver with other receivers on the roster dropping balls, and stop running mid-route.

San Jacinto ended up falling to Eastlake 31-14, there is no more time left to figure things out, with only one more game until League Play starts the Tigers need to come together and discover their identity. 

Player of the Game went to Eastlake’s Maximus Susi who played on all phases of the game and made a huge impact. After the game, Max made himself available for an interview and said, “We knew they were a tough team, but we needed to come out here and show that we could play with a chip on our shoulder too and that’s what we did.” It seems like the Eastlakes game plan was all about coming out and playing aggressive smash mouth football. It is safe to say that the strategy paid off. 

It was a tough week for half of the league Hemet and West Valley would lose close games this week. Tahquitz and Citrus Hills both won their games and Beaumont dominated their rivalry game against Banning.

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This week’s Player Profile features Damonce Williams. He is a wide receiver and is entering his junior year at San Jacinto. He has been on Varsity since he was a freshman and a key feature in Coach Galliano’s offense. Damonce is a two-sport varsity athlete for the Tigers. He is every threat and possesses the kind of natural breakaway speed that throws many defensive backs off guard. Monce has learned not to show his speed right away; he will jog through routes and accelerate out of the break causing defensive players to hesitate and lose their grip on him. Coach Galliano had this to say about him, “Damonce is a hard worker, good route runner with excellent hands. He is his biggest critic; it makes him push harder to become a great WR.”
Last year Damonce banked in 8 touchdowns, this season he is hoping to have a break out year and get some college attention. Every practice he is putting in the work and is getting better and better.

Damonce’s favorite route to run is a post corner, he likes 50/50 balls and competing for those balls. He has been playing football since he was nine years old. Damonce instantly noticed how when he was playing football, he wasn’t getting in trouble and decided that he would stick with it. That’s his number one thing that he loves about football; it keeps him too busy to mess around.
Damonce finished last year’s school year with a 3.5 GPA; he is hoping to get that even higher this year. His favorite subject is reading, and he enjoys the quiet time he can spend away from the world. When Damonce isn’t playing Football or Basketball, he spends his free time playing video games. He loves to play 2k (NBA basketball video game) and Madden (NFL Football Game). Monce is determined to graduate from college and dreams of going to AU (Arizona University) to major in business. He hopes to launch his own clothing company and successfully start a business empire.

Monce is thankful to Coach G for taking a chance on him during his freshman year and never giving upon him. He feels like Coach G has his back and wants to make him proud. Most of all Monce is excited for this upcoming year, and he feels like the Tigers left too much on the table and wants to get back to the championship round to get the chance to show that they deserve that CIF championship ring.
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