< The Latest 2025-10-18T07:12:49+0000
The Pasadena Star-News | Sat 10/18 12:07am PST | Luke Perez
ROWLAND HEIGHTS — The Rowland football team’s undefeated and historic season continued with a come-from-behind thriller, outlasting Chaffey, 45-44, in a barnbuner in Friday’s Gano League opener.
Rowland improved to 8-0 and 1-0 while dropping Chaffey to 3-5 and 0-1. There are only four teams in the Gano League, so every win is crucial, and both teams looked like title contenders heading into league play.
“You got to give credit to the seniors who wanted to stay here,” Rowland coach Citos Marinez said. “When I came to high school here, I went through a coaching change my senior year. I know how hard it is.”
Marinez also gave credit to the previous coaching staff that played the current seniors during their sophomore years. Those seniors came up big in the win.
Senior running back CJ Carillo finished with 171 yards and four touchdowns and Bryce Johnson chipped in with 69 yards rushing and two scores.
On defense, senior defensive lineman Frankie Trujillo was dominant with seven tackles to go with an interception that sealed the victory.
As for the Tigers’ key players, junior fullback Alexis Almeida rushed for 44 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Carlos Vasquez ran for 80 yards and two scores.
Defense took a back seat in this one.
It only took Rowland two plays to score on its opening drive thanks to a 75-yard touchdown run by Carillo.
Chaffey’s rushing attack responded by slicing its way downfield with fullback Alexis Almeida tying the score at 7-7 on a touchdown run.
On the Raiders’ next offensive series, senior quarterback Jose Valadez connected with Damietyn Arrieta on an 80-yard pickup, and Aidan Opatkiewicz caught a 35-yard pass. It all set up Carillo, who scored on another touchdown run and also ran in the conversion to push the Raiders ahead, 15-7.
Rowland’s special teams followed the score with an onside kick and recovered it. Carrillo ran in his third touchdown at the start of the second quarter to extend the Raiders’ lead to 22-7.
Just as the Raiders were starting to pull away, the Tigers clawed their way back.
Senior quarterback Noah Stewart found Justin Alcantara for a 55-yard pass and they made the conversion to trim the Raiders’ lead to 22-15.
But Rowland would answer with Bryce Johnson finding the end zone to extend the Raiders’ lead to 29-15.
Unfazed, Chaffey’s offense kept coming, with Vasquez scoring again to pull within six points.
After Chaffey got the ball back, Stewart connected with Andrew Rodriguez for a 22-yard pass play touchdown that gave the Tigers a 31-29 lead after making the conversion, which they took into halftime.
“Extra point conversions were the difference in the game,” Marinez pointed out to the team at halftime. “We needed to focus on their technique. Honestly, they had been 100 percent on scoring touchdowns. I knew we [could] get one stop.”
But Chaffey stayed hot, extending its lead to 38-29 after Almedia scored again in the third quarter.
Carillo answered with his fourth touchdown run, and ran in the conversion to cut Chaffey’s lead to 38-37.
Then Trujillo stepped up on the defensive side of the ball. His tackle, assisted by senior Jaden Amador, on third-and-short, forced the Tigers to punt the ball.
At the start of the fourth quarter, senior two-way player Bryce Johnson ripped a 45-yard touchdown run to give the Raiders the lead for good, 45-38.
Although Rowland was making a comeback, the Chaffey offense looked calm as they took the field.
Vasquez scored on a six-yard touchdown run to pull Chaffey within one, trailing 45-44.
Chaffey decided to go for the two-point conversion to take the lead, but Trujillo intercepted the pass.
After recovering Chaffey’s onside kick, Rowland was able to run out the clock and earn the victory.
“When you haven’t been to the playoffs and you’ve only won a combination of eight games the past two years, you aren’t going to get big headed,” Marinez said about the team’s mindset for the remainder of the season. “This is the beginning of our program.”