Schieberal, Napoleon too much for South El Monte, Rancho Christian Advances to first CIF final with 42-28 victory

SOUTH EL MONTE – The Rancho Christian Eagles punched its ticket to its first ever CIF final for the football team, which is only in its third year, with a 42-28 victory over the South El Monte Eagles Friday night. Rancho looks to repeat the feat of its basketball team, who won the school’s first CIF title in any sport of the area last spring.

Rancho’s two-prong attack of junior running back Jaden Schiberal and sophomore Malosi Napoleon led the ground attack for Rancho Christian who had over 375 yards on the ground and outshone South’s own star junior Sal Tovar who had 136 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown.

“We have some good explosive playmakers,” said Rancho Christian head coach Jim Kunau.

Rancho drew first blood, when Schiberal took a handoff and went 36 yards along the left sideline, then followed up with a 65 yard scamper in the following series to take a quick 14-0 lead.

South El Monte (11-2), however, would not go away, as Tovar would score on a 75 yard run with less than 2:00 to go in the first quarter to close the gap to 14-7. South then tied the score at 14-14 when sophomore quarterback Daniel Olmos found Richard Nava along the left side for a 39-yard scoring pass.

The second half was all Rancho Christian, as the Eagles came out angry and hungry.

“We were a little bit upset that they tied us up,” Kunau said. “We came out in the second half with a vengeance.”

And that they did when Schiberal took the hand off on the second play from scrimmage in the second half and ran 63 yards for another Rancho score. Napoleon then scored the first of his two touchdowns on a perfectly executed option pitch to extend the score to 28-14.

Olmos would take matters into his own hands; or rather feet as he would score first on a fake handoff then keep it for a 38-yard run which closed the gap to 28-21. He would then score on a 1-yard plunge late in the fourth quarter when the result has already been decided.

Rancho sccored twice more in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Rancho (11-2) hosts Santa Ana (13-0) Saturday night. Kickoff is at 7pm.

Photo: Malosi Napoleon runs for some of his 122 yards in a 42-28 victory.

(Photo by Rich Whittington, Midvalley News)