SAN DIMAS — Monrovia came all the way back to knock off defending CIF-Southern Section Mid-Valley Division champion San Dimas 24-23 in overtime, rallying from a 17-0 deficit to pull it out in the season opener for both schools on Friday at San Dimas.
San Dimas’ Bobby Rios scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Saints a 23-17 lead in overtime, but a blocked extra point gave the Wildcats an opportunity to win it with their possession.
Wildcats quarterback Asaph Zamora wasted no time, throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Aubrey Mosley and with Blake Cusick’s extra point, the Wildcats ran around in celebration.
Monrovia and San Dimas have won five of the past six Mid-Valley Division titles, the Saints winning in 2009 and ’13 and the Wildcats winning three straight from 2010-12
With Monrovia moving to the Central Division there’s no chance to meet again in the playoffs, but their storied rivalry lived up to the billing again.
“Oh man, this is crazy,” Zamora said. “Me and my guys worked all summer for this. We never thought we were out of the game. Without a doubt, I had faith in my guys. It starts with the offensive line, they gave me time and I made plays.”
Zamora finished with 251 yards and three touchdowns, delivering a nice victory for first-year coach Chris Stevens.
“Attribute it to those guys right there,” Steven said looking at his players. “They kept fighting. We talked all summer and camp that if you keep playing good things will happen.”
The Wildcats tied the score on Zamora’s 79-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Nathan to tie the score, 17-17 with 6:10 left.
The touchdown came two plays after the Saints missed a 22-yard field goal that would have given them a 10-point lead. The Saints missed two short field goals and the extra point in OT.
“That’s why high school football is a great thing, you have to be able to finish and we’ll have to work on that this week,” Saints coach Bill Zernickow said of the missed kicks.
San Dimas’ Darius Chamberlain finished with 134 yards, but overall, Monrovia did a good job stopping the Saints’ run attack.
“Because they’re a lot faster than we’re, they didn’t allow the big chunk of yards,” San Dimas Zernickow said. “It just didn’t work out for us. We didn’t execute the small things.”
After San Dimas quarterback Andrew Avila threw a 67-yard pass to Josh Aguilar, the Saints settled for an Erick Ware 25-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead on its opening drive, and led 10-0 after Bobby Rios’ 9-yard TD run.
Facing third and long early in the second quarter, the Saints’ vaunted Wing T fooled the Wildcats defense with Chamberlain running right untouched for a 25-yard touchdown and 17-0 lead.
Just when it looked like the rout was starting, the Wildcats climbed back in the final two minutes of the half.
Monrovia, beating itself with silly penalties and bad snaps for losses, got it going with Zamora’s 38-yard TD pass to Aubrey Mosely to make it 17-7 with 1:53 left.
The Wildcats cut into the Saints’ lead even more on Cusick’s 32-yard field goal as time expired to trim the Saints’ lead to 17-10 at half.
