From the standpoint of the coaches, the playoff consequences always took precedence over the hoopla and fanfare associated with the East Los Angeles Classic.

Roosevelt High School football coach Javier Cid, whose Rough Riders were trying to win the Eastern League title, couldn’t afford to look at it any other way.

His team was able to follow his lead by defeating Garfield, 28-16 last Friday before another packed house at East L.A. College.

The win clinched the title for Roosevelt (8-1, 5-0), which closes the regular season Friday at South East (4-5, 3-2).
Garfield (4-5, 2-3) hosts South Gate (2-7, 0-5) Friday.

It took a big performance by Manny Ayon to help the Rough Riders turn a 9-7 halftime deficit into the 12-point victory they would ultimately get.

Because of a sprained ankle, Ayon was on the field for only one snap in the first half.

But the converted wide receiver  who shares quarterback duties with Brandon Sifuentes, came off the sidelines after intermission to carry 15 times for 131 yards and a touchdown.

His 42-yard run on his first play was the start to a 61-yard drive that resulted in  a Rough Rider TD.

“He’s a gamer and the time had come to take the reins off of him,” Roosevelt coach Javier Cid said. “We purposely held him out and waited until the right moment to put him in, hoping that he would give us a lift. We knew he would get the job done.”

Ayon said he wasn’t expecting to see a lot of duty because of the injury.

“I got my chance and did what was possible to keep us going,” he said.

Elgin Rosales carried 13 times for 114 yards and a TD and Jesse Lira added 10 carries for 37 yards and a score as the Riders rushed for 322 yards. Ayon and Sifuentes combined to throw only four times for 10 yards, although Sifuentes was on the receiving end of a scoring pass from Ayon that gave Roosevelt the early lead.

“That was the first time we scored on our first possession this season,” Cid said. “We’re usually a slow-starting team, so I thought that was kind of special.”

Garfield took its last lead on a 32-yard scoring pass from Leonardo Vaal to William Fonseca with 5:01 left in the third period.

On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Lira’s one-yard run gave Roosevelt the lead for good.

The Riders added an insurance touchdown on an 18-yard run by Rosales, which was set up when William Linares recovered a Vaal fumble deep in Bulldog territory.

Vaal was 7-of-13 for 127 yards and a TD and Jonathan Lopez carried 11 times for 50 yards and a score for the Bulldogs. Danny Vargas led them in rushing with 78 yards on six carries.

Bobby Vargas had three catches for 49 yards.

Defensively for Garfield, Hector Cazales had 11 solo tackles, four assists and a sack. Levi Peralta had seven solos and three assists.

“We made the same mistakes we’ve made all season and Roosevelt did everything they needed to do to win the game,” Garfield coach Lorenzo Hernandez said. “They controlled the ball and made our defense work. That hasn’t been done to our defense in a long time, so you have to give credit where credit is due. Coach Cid and his staff did a great job.”

Northern League
Franklin (7-1, 4-0), which clinched no worse than a share of the Northern League title with a 30-0 win over Marshall (6-2, 3-0), can clinch the crown outright Friday at Eagle Rock (1-7, 0-4).

In last week’s action, Lincoln (3-6, 2-2) defeated Eagle Rock, 21-15 as Carlos Duran carried 19 times for 121 yards and a TD and Caleb Cabrera passed for 61 yards and ran for a score.

Wilson (3-6, 2-2) defeated Belmont, 34-7 in the other Northern League game. Belmont is 4-5, 1-3.