Apaches Pummel Temple City Rams

football team scored early and often in the first half against visiting Temple City. With the huge lead, the Apaches’ second and third string units got to play the entire second half of a 37-21 victory.

Arcadia pummeled the Rams, scoring five touchdowns and adding a safety in route to building a 37-0 halftime lead. In the end, the old sports cliche, that the game wasn’t nearly as close as the final score would indicate, held true.

“We just came out here expecting to put a lot of points up in the first half,” said Arcadia’s senior quarterback Myles Carr, who completed 9 of 12 passes for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, before watching the second half from the sideline.

 “Our offensive coordinator made some great calls to put us in the best position to put points up on the board and we did that,” Carr added.

Arcadia (2-1) began with a 52-yard drive that took only 2:02 off the clock and was capped by a 9-yard touchdown run by senior running back Rodney Arnett to take a 7-0 lead.

Less than three minutes later, with 7:16 left in the first quarter, Carr hit senior wide receiver Alex McElwee on a 26-yard touchdown strike to give the Apaches a 14-0 advantage.

When Carr connected with senior wide receiver Taylor Legace for a 62-yard touchdown pass with 1:58 left in the first quarter, Arcadia took a commanding 20-0 lead.

A safety, caused by a high snap to the Temple City punter that went out of the end zone, was followed by another Arnett touchdown, this one a two-yard run early in the second quarter.

On their next possession, after a Temple City turnover, the Apaches finished off their scoring when Carr hit senior tight end Robby Haines all alone in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown.

“We knew what we had to do and we wanted to get everybody a chance to play,” said Arnett, who ran for 46 yards and two touchdowns in the first half.

“Our (starters) came in, did what they had to do to get everybody else (a chance to play) in the game,” Arnett added. “So we came out fired up. Our offense was on point, our defense was on lockdown, we were ready to go.”

Arcadia coach Jon Dimalante wasn’t concerned that Temple City (0-3) scored three second-half touchdowns, highlighted by two leaping scoring receptions by Rams’ junior wide receiver Kasmir Khaliq, who utilized his entire 6-foot-4 frame on both grabs.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Dimalante said, regarding the deceiving final score. “It was more important that our kids got to play. It was nice to see a lot of kids, who don’t get a whole lot of playing time, get the chance to play.”

Dimalante said that next’s week’s Pacific League opener at Muir in Pasadena will be a tough test for the Apaches. “They have a very talented team and they’re going to give us all we can handle,” he said.