The El Camino Warriors football team find themselves winless at home after a loss to the Riverside Tigers, who hammered the Warriors 70-45 at Featherstone Field on Sept. 21.The Tigers employed a fast-paced offense, overwhelming the Warriors defense.
“Our youth got exposed tonight a little bit, especially in the secondary,” defensive coordinator Matt Kirk said. “They’re a tempo team, so they go fast and I think we had some players just miscommunicate some things.”
The Warriors gave up the second most points in the 77-year history of El Camino’s football program.
A one-score-game through 35 minutes, the Tigers went on to score 28 unanswered points to create a large scoring margin in the third quarter.
Riverside’s Tomico Jackson forced a fumble, recovering the ball for a touchdown. Warriors tight end Joshua Long responded with a five-yard touchdown catch of his own to even the score.
The Warriors and Tigers continued to trade scores during the third quarter.
Ky’yin Arrington turned an interception into a touchdown, returning the ball 29 yards into the endzone to keep the Warriors in striking distance, to narrow the score 28-24.
Playing a physical game, chirping was done by both teams.
Freshman linebacker Kaleb McCutcheon was ejected after threatening to physically harm a member of the officiating crew.
After a score from Arrington, the Tigers flipped the switch with the next four scores belonging to the Tigers, creating a 56-24 lead.
During garbage time, the Warriors produced offense with Hunter Herrera, who threw three passing touchdowns in the fourth-quarter.
Tyler Karen, who has been part of a quarterback rotation with Aidan Semo and Hunter Herrera, completed 18 passes out of 25 attempts for the night, throwing for 165 yards and one touchdown.
“It’s just on to the next, I mean obviously this is not how we wanted it to go,” Karen said, “The backup quarterback is doing great right now and I am proud of him. We’re just gonna keep moving forward and keep getting better, and keep moving forward as a team.”
Herrera threw 16 completions out of 25 attempts for 264 yards.
Kirk spoke on miscommunication from the Warriors defense leading to big plays from the Tigers offense.
“If you do not line up on time, and you don’t communicate, and there was a couple miscommunications that led to two big touchdowns that shouldn’t have really happened,” Kirk said. “You take those two big plays away, it’s still a shootout, we have some life.”
He added his positive thoughts on the Warriors offensive output.
“The offense came to play tonight, they scored, we had a good first half. But third quarter got away from us, big plays,” Kirk said.
El Camino will be on the road on Sept. 28 to clash with Moorpark at 6 p.m.
Editor’s note:
- A photo was added into the story on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 1:34 p.m.
