Nogales Wins Firsts League Title in 26 Years

GLENDORA – It was 26 years in the making, but the Nogales football team finally won a league championship as it dispatched host Azusa 42-10 Friday night for the Montview League title.

Both teams entered the game 4-0 in league and have given up a grand total of six touchdowns in league combined.

Nogales (9-1, 5-0) lost to Azusa 21-7 and eventually were knocked out of the playoffs last year when Sierra Vista defeated Nogales 26-20, forcing a three-way tie for second place.

Senior quarterback Josh Lopez, who sat out the first quarter for disciplinary reasons said that the team “worked hard since February” to get to this point, and that last season was “motivation for us. We were confident (tonight) and look at theresults. We are confident for the playoffs.”

Lopez had three scoring passes, all to Andrew Carrazco, and ran one more in for Nogales who hosts La Puente on Thursday night. Kickoff is at 7pm. He finished with 158 yards and ran for 53 yards more.

Right before halftime, and already leading 21-3 Lopez found Carrazco who raced down the sideline 83-yards for his second scoring catch of the night.

Azusa (5-5, 4-1) finally found the end zone with about four minutes to go in the third quarter when senior quarterback Jorge Ledesma found Nicholas Sanmaniego for a 10-yard scoring pass to close the gap to 35-10 but the result has long been decided.

“It’s humbling, it really is,” Salazar said. “We’ve talked to the kids about what the expectations are and how to be a winner. Our last team dinner we talked about self-projection and visualization. They experienced some (winning) last year and now they can walk around and hold their chest out high because we won (the league title) and this is expected at Nogales now.”

Senior Angel Amaya chipped in defensively with two interceptions, one of which he returned 43 yards for the second score of the game.

Senior running back Francisco Ibarra III opened the scoring for the Nobles when he scored from 25 yards on its second possession of the game.

“This is an unreal feeling,” Carrazco said. “Last year my brother played with us and it hurt because he didn’t get to experience this feeling we have tonight. But looking at the stands, it’s crazy, we wanted this so bad for everyone in our school and community.”

OTHER SCORES

HACIENDA LEAGUE

Diamond Ranch 42, Los Altos 6

Walnut 19, Chino 29

PALOMARES LEAGUE

Diamond Bar 35, Claremont 42

Photo: Senior Running Back Andrew Carrazco runs along the sideline for a score before the half