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.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: Tough Night

The post Tough Night For The San Jacinto Tigers appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

A Slow Start By The Tigers, But A Hot Finish

The long-awaited return of the San Jacinto Tigers football team has finally come. The last time they played in front of their home crowd was last year’s CIF championship game, where hundreds of fans traveled to watch them play, but this is a new season and a new team. San Jacinto needed to come out and make a statement that night after a tough loss the week before to Woodrow High School (Long Beach, CA) and that’s exactly what they did. Murrieta Mesa came into San Jacinto with a 0-2 record to start the season, they felt the pressure to get a win and came out playing like it. 

The first quarter was slow for both teams, with very little first downs or yards gained. Coach Galliano of the San Jacinto Tigers had this to say about the slow start: “They did some things defensively that we haven’t seen yet, so we needed to make adjustments heading into the half.” The Tigers were able to get into the endzone three times in the first half, including an amazing last-second touchdown throw from Kajiya Hollawayne to Kameron Rocha. The score going into the half was 19-14 in favor of the home team.

After halftime, the San Jacinto Tigers offense started to work the way they were designed too. Rushing to the line and catching the defense off their toes. Junior Quarterback Kajiya Hollawayne and Senior Runningback Juan Denny Jr. took turns punishing Murrieta Mesa on the ground. When they weren’t running down their throats, Kajiya was executing beautiful passes and hitting his guys in stride. They repaid him by getting tons of yards after the catch and fighting to get in the endzone. Our player of the week goes to Kajiya Hollawayne who ran for two touchdowns, and 214 yards. He also got it done through the air, throwing three touchdown passes to three different players and 234 yards. The Tigers would win the game with a final score of 39-27. Now the score could be misleading. San Jacinto’s defense did an excellent job shutting down Murrieta Mesa multiple times. However, the officiating of this game was very questionable. The refs ejected a San Jacinto player after he was on the receiving end of a push that happened after the whistle. There were a lot of unnecessary roughness/pass interference calls that shouldn’t have been called. Offsides called on the sidelines when no warnings were given. At one point penalties caused the San Jacinto Tigers offense to turn the ball over on downs after getting in the endzone two times on the same drive. Murrieta Mesa would then march down the field with the help of the referees (Half of the yards gained on the drive were from penalties) and score. 

Murrieta did a great job getting into the endzone on their own; they didn’t need the extra help. In other Mountain Pass League News, West Valley lost to Temecula Valley 0-44, everyone else in the Mountain Pass League would go home as victors. Hemet beat Banning 26-0; Tahquitz beat Indio 14-13; Beaumont beat Perris 59-0, and Citrus Hill beat Pacific 48-7. A great week for the league who are all building momentum before league play begins. 

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: San Jacinto Defeats Murrieta

The post San Jacinto Defeats Murrieta Mesa At Home appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

San Jacinto Needs To Make A Statement Coming Off A Loss

The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle is taking you to San Jacinto High School this week for the Game of the Week. This week San Jacinto High is welcoming Murrieta Mesa into “The Jungle” as the two teams look to show the rest of Southern California that they are serious contenders. San Jacinto started the season off with a huge win against Great Oaks showing dominance in every phase of the game, but their winning streak was quickly brought to an end when they traveled to Long Beach last week to play Woodrow High School. San Jacinto lost this matchup, causing them to drop from the 94th ranked school in California to the 144th ranked school. 

The team (lead by Junior Quarterback Kajiya Hollawayne) will be looking to come out hot and put a lot of points on the board tonight in order to make a statement to the rest of the division, “Just because we took one L doesn’t mean we are out of it.” Ryan Cogdil (Defensive Coordinator of the Tigers) isn’t happy that the team lost, but believes it could be good for them; now they can come together as a team and show everyone that they are a serious threat this year. 

Murrieta Mesa is ranked 302 in California. They are starting non-league play 0-2; their first game was a blowout loss to La Serna and last week they were involved in an offensive dog fight losing to Etiwanda High School in overtime 42-35. On paper San Jacinto should be able to control this game; they have the talent to do so. It all comes down to the players trusting their coaches play calls and sticking to their assignments. Football is as much of a chess match as it is a physical contest and it takes both Players and Coaches to trust each other and be in sync in order for the team to find success. 

San Jacinto needs to use this week to find their identity again and remember that they only went as far as they did last year by play as one team that fired on all cylinders. Coach Galliano and Kajiya Hollawayne will do everything in their power to get that high pace offense working as it should be, this week. Ryan Cogdill needs one of his defensive playmakers to step up and be a leader on the field after losing one of his captains to injury last week. Who on the defensive side of the ball is going to step up and become the leader in his absence?

Other Mountain Pass League Matchups tonight include: Beaumont vs. Perris, Hemet vs. Banning, Tahquitz vs. Lakeside, West Valley vs. Temecula Valley, and Citrus Hill vs. Pacific. You can see the winners and losers of this game in next week’s paper, but why wait? Subscribe to The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle Facebook/Youtube for faster updates on local sports news. Pictures of the game will be available on my personal Facebook page @AuthorKyleRaeHeadlee.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: San Jacinto Welcomes Murrieta Mesa

The post San Jacinto Welcomes Murrieta Mesa appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

(San Jacinto Tigers) It was a pleasure this summer being a part of the San Jacinto Tigers training camp. From the very beginning, Coach Galliano and his staff welcomed me with open arms and made me feel as if I was a part of his coaching staff. Every single one of his players showed me the utmost respect at all times. I applaud Coach G and his staff on how they are bringing these players up into the system. Not only are they taught how to become better football players, but meaningful members of the community as well. I created a bond with quite a few players who I got to know during my time covering the program. The Summer Camp ended last Friday Aug.9th with a scrimmage just two days after school started. This week players had to start adjusting to the life of a fulltime student and varsity athlete, which at times can be difficult to manage.

San Jacinto’s first game is next Friday against Great Oak High School in Temecula. Great Oak is renowned around Southern California for having the best Student-Body Fan Base around. They sell out their bleachers and are constantly cheering on their team, almost like European Soccer Fans. This will be a huge test for San Jacinto High School entering week one of the season. Throughout talking to the players this summer they all had the same goal, “to get back to that championship game.” a lot of them are hoping to matchup against Culver City (who beat them in the championship game last year 61-21) if this matchup is destined to happen it will have to be in the playoffs. Last year the Tigers jumped ahead to a 0-14 lead and the game was tied 21-21 at half time. It was all downhill for them after that. 

The Tigers are coming back poised this year with an extra training camp under their belt and a year older. Just look at the Quarterback Kajiya Hollowayne. He is bigger, faster, and stronger than he was last season. I expect Kajiya to have a dominant season this year and show the rest of the Mountain Pass League his elite skill set. He isn’t the only player on San Jacinto’s roster who is making a return this season, Running Back Juan Denny (who had 133 rushing yards against culver city) is coming in his Senior year and wants to leave his imprint on the campus. Wide Receiver Damonce Williams who was quiet at the Culver City game is ready to show off his hands and wants to be one of Kajiya’s go-to receivers this year. Damonce has excellent hands and shows great potential in being a real possession threat this year. 

The defense is returning quite a few starters Sheldon Newton, Nathan Ortiz, and Kameron Rocha are all back. Sheldon & Nathan are both entering their Junior year while Kameron is going into his senior season. For Kameron, this is his last chance to leave a legacy at the school before taking his talents to the next level. Kameron is hoping to have an impactful season and earn some attention from college scouts. 

San Jacinto’s first home game of the season comes on September 6th against Murrieta Mesa. Be sure to show up there and support the team as they look to bring a CIF Championship home to San Jacinto.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

Search: San Jacinto Tigers

The post San Jacinto Tigers are Ready For The Season appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.