Pasadena Poly football opens season with win behind rushing attack

With transportation issues, a late start to the game and an early deficit, things didn’t get rolling smoothly from the get-go for the Pasadena Poly football team in its nonleague season opener against Saddleback Valley Christian at St. Margaret’s in San Juan Capistrano on Friday night.

But the Panthers settled in by the end of the first half and cruised to a 28-12 win from there paced by a strong rushing attack that included a game-high 117 yards in 14 carries from Griffin Carter and two second-half touchdowns from Jake Zelek.

“It was exciting, we’re a young group, so we had a bunch of guys making their varsity debut and as a coach you’re always anxious to see how they’re going to make that step up,” Panthers Coach Brendan McGrail said. “I was pleased.”

Saddleback Valley Christian (0-2) scored the game’s first touchdown in the first quarter, but missed the point-after attempt. The lead held up for most of the first half, as Poly moved the ball well on a couple drives, McGrail said, but couldn’t turn them into points.

Poly’s first score, and lead, of the game came when Alex Pinon scored on a 22-yard run on a sweep with 1:48 left in the first half.

“It was 7-6 at the half, so I felt like we kind of weathered the storm a little bit of being on the road and being on the bus for two hours for our first game,” McGrail said. “We kind of settled down and played a very good third quarter.”

Zelek found pay dirt twice in the third quarter to give Poly some separation, scoring on a seven-yard run early in the third to make it 14-6 before Saddleback scored again, failing on a two-point conversion, to make it 14-12. Zelek then closed out the period with a three-yard run to give Poly a 21-12 lead.
Panthers quarterback Nolan Mulligan capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 14-yard option keeper with just under six minutes left in the game.

Defensive end Will Genske had two sacks and kept great pressure on Saddleback’s quarterback and outside linebacker Curtis Toyota played well, according to McGrail.