< The Latest 2025-10-17T21:04:58+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Thu 10/16 11:37pm PST | Thomas Murray
HACIENDA HEIGHTS — Los Altos continued to show it’s the real deal in a 28-14 victory over Chino on Thursday to remain undefeated in the Hacienda League.
Conquerors quarterback Diego Castillo completed 13 of 25 passes for 140 yards and three touchdowns. Safety Marques Garcia had a key sack in the second quarter and a game-sealing interception with 2:41 left.
Los Altos improved to 8-0 overall and 3-0 in league. The win sets up a big game at Diamond Bar (3-5, 3-0) next week. Diamond Bar defeated Covina 41-28 on Thursday.
“Los Altos is for real,” a confident Garcia said. “The schedule says it for itself. We’re 8-0 and we’re gonna just keep winning games.”
Nobody was more critical of their own performance tonight than Los Altos quarterback Diego Castillo, despite having a 3-TD performance.
Late in the game, Diego got himself into a groove and completed 7/8 passes. @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/rTePupuaTZ
— Thomas Murray (@Thomas_L_Murray) October 17, 2025
Castillo got the scoring going on the Conquerors’ second drive when he rolled out of the pocket and threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Cortez in the back corner for a 7-0 lead.
“Just giving my guy a chance, especially Josiah, he’s my guy,” Castillo said. “It’s always (a strong chance) with him. He’s always gonna come down with it.”
Chino answered with a 10-play drive that ended with a Nathan Bull 15-yard touchdown run to tie the score, 7-7.
Bull carried the ball 17 times for 69 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Cowboys.
Both defenses played well in the second quarter before the Conquerors finally broke through to retake the lead.
Castillo’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Benjamin Cortez with five seconds in the quarter left gave the Conquerors a 14-7 lead at the break.
Marques Garcia had a sack and a huge interception during the final 3 minutes of the 4th quarter tonight for Los Altos. I chatted with him about it and he mentioned to me the DLine room has been showing him some love lately. @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/cIbLuLhKud
— Thomas Murray (@Thomas_L_Murray) October 17, 2025
“That was huge,” Los Altos head coach Dale Ziola said of the score just before the half. “Especially with the way the game started. We didn’t start off as accurate as we’ve been. We dropped a lot of balls.”
The Cowboys would tie the score again.
Quarterback Carson Hoover threw a screen to Christian Rodriguez for 20 yards and a personal foul call against the Conquerors added 15 more yards.
One play later, Bull scored his second touchdown on a 15-yard run to tie the score 14-14 in the third quarter.
Castillo’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Cortez with 3:51 left in the third quarter gave the Conquerors the lead back for good, 21-14.
Chino couldn’t get its offense going again and made things worse with a roughing the kicker penalty on Los Altos’ field goal try.
Los Altos got the ball at the 1 following the penalty, and Evan Rojas ran it in for the score to double the team’s lead in the fourth quarter.
Chino tried to get back in it with a 70-yard kick return to the 15 with just under six minutes left. But on the next play, Los Altos’ Adan Rodriguez got into the backfield, forced a fumble and recovered it.
Chino had another opportunity to pull closer with just over three minutes left, but the Conquerors’ Marques Garcia intercepted a ball in the end zone with 2:41 left to seal it.
“I was covering deep, my corner was covering flats,” Garcia said. “He let me go over the top. I knew they had to pass due to the sort of situation they were in. Just started backpedaling, seen him (quarterback), eyes down, just stood over the top, and got to where I needed to be. Right spot.”
Chino, which beat Los Altos last season and came into Thursday’s game undefeated in league play, drops to 3-5 overall and 2-1 league.
“We knew they were going to be a really, really good team,” Ziola said. “Coming into the season, I think they were the league favorites.”
Postgame interview tonight with Dale Ziola of Los Altos as his team improves to 8-0 @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/Osjh4blT0z
— Thomas Murray (@Thomas_L_Murray) October 17, 2025
Chino head coach Alex Arenallo and I talked about a back and fourth game that ended in a 28-14 loss to Los Altos Thursday night. @SGVNSports pic.twitter.com/OTnWT7HEk6
— Thomas Murray (@Thomas_L_Murray) October 17, 2025