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At the CIF-Southern Section Ford Press Conference Luncheon for the schools that will be playing for a divisional championship either Friday or Saturday, Gahr High is represented by, left to right, head coach Greg Marshall, senior lineman Alejandro Duenas, senior defensive back and offensive utility player Markell Slaughter, senior running back and linebacker Ja’Shon Wallace, senior tight end Jacob Sikma, assistant coach Chris Thompson and Principal Richard Moore. Not pictured is Assistant Principal of Student Services Stefani Palutzke. Photo by Loren Kopff.
November 25, 2024
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
LONG BEACH-Of the 28 11-man football teams who will be playing for a CIF-Southern Section divisional championship either on Friday or Saturday, Gahr High is one five schools making its first trip to the finals. In contrast, eight teams who advanced to the title game last season are making a return trip later in the week.
The CIF-SS put on its yearly press conference luncheon this past Monday at the Long Beach Marriott and Gahr’s Greg Marshall had a lot of emotions as the head coach of 22 seasons for the Gladiators was just as curious as the other four schools as to what to expect.
“Compared to our banquet, this definitely gives us a different perspective, seeing all the teams here and seeing how excited the boys are to be a part of something special,” said Marshall. “The very neat thing…one of our alumni from the CIF office; I always talk to her, is excited for Gahr being in the finals for the first time. So, there are a lot of people, alumni included, who are happy for this moment. It’s pretty special.”
This is the 110th season that the CIF-SS has had a championship game in football. And, if you’ve made it this far, that means you get to practice on Thanksgiving, which Gahr will have early in the morning.
The Gladiators are the top-seeded team and will face Pasadena High, seeded 10th on Saturday night. Gahr ended the regular season at 5-5 but knocked off injury-riddled La Puente High 41-14, Artesia High 34-7 and fourth-seeded Anaheim High 28-12 to get to this point. The Bulldogs entered the playoffs with a 4-6 mark with all of their wins coming in Pacific League action. Pasadena then eliminated Santa Rosa Academy 23-15, upset second-seeded San Marino High 22-16 and third-seeded Lynwood High 37-0 last Friday.
Gahr has been playing the last five games without senior wide receiver and cornerback Markell Slaughter. But that hasn’t slowed the offense as junior quarterback Roman Acosta and the rest of the playmakers have picked up the slack. Senior running back Dylan Richburg (84 carries, 579 yards, seven touchdowns), senior running back Ja’Shon Wallace (77 carries, 322 yards, four touchdowns) and junior Jai’Dyn Backus have carried the ball quite well as of late.
On the receiving end, Acosta has a plethora of targets to go to, 10 to be exact, and the confusing part for Pasadena is it won’t know who Acosta likes to go to the most. No one receiver has more than 19 catches and after junior Alexander Gutierrez’ 530 yards, no other player has reached 200 receiving yards.
During Marshall’s time at Gahr the 372 points scored is the fourth highest, trailing the 2007 team (435 points in 13 games), the 2016 team (384 points, 11 games) and the 2017 team (383 points, 12 games).
Gahr’s defense has been the story of late, yielding 33 points in the playoffs, and since Oct. 4, the Gladiators have not allowed an opponent to score more than 14 points in six of their last eight games. The 307 points allowed this season is a far contrast from the 426 points the 2014 team gave up in 10 games, and six more points given up than the 2007 team that went to the semifinals. Marshall, once a defensive coordinator, has to be pleased with that side of the ball up to now, led by senior linebackers Evan Lucena, Isaiah Portillo, Richburg, junior safety Malachi Williams and junior linebacker Harlym Rayford. Gahr has 22 sacks on the season and six interceptions, including two that have been returned back for touchdowns.
“[Defense is] big, but back in the day, we had [quarterback] Corey Nielsen and we had some other people,” said Marshall. “It was a little different structure in how we won and lost games. This year’s team defensively, we had to create a big role, but also, we tried to be balanced offensively.”
The Bulldogs began the season with three straight losses and were outscored 109-14 in those games before winning two straight, followed by two consecutive losses. However, Pasadena enters the championship game winners of five of its last six games having scored over 21 points each time and over 30 points twice. The lone loss in that stretch was to Muir High, a 49-13 affair on Nov. 1.
“They are big and probably the best football team we’ve seen this year,” said Marshall. “They’re really good; they’re very big and very fast. It reminds me of the San Gabriel Valley League teams back in the days. I would say they’re comparable to Bellflower of last year. So, it’s like we’ve seen that size before, but we haven’t seen it this year.”
The key to Gahr winning its first football championship will be if it can control the clock. Against La Puente, the Gladiators had the ball for 22 and a half minutes. Against Artesia, it was just over 28 minutes and last Friday, Gahr had the ball half a minute longer than Anaheim. Marshall says Pasadena has a ‘pretty good offense’ and if his offense can stay on the field for long drives, thus keeping Pasadena’s offense on the sidelines, then that would be the best bet.
“It’s probably going to be a close game,” said Marshall. “But we’re going to have to throw it because we’re not going to be able to run it as much as we have because they’re bigger than us. We’re going to have to mix it up.”
Prediction: Gahr 35, Pasadena 17
Last week: 1-0
Season to date: 49-18
