Second half costs Hoover

SOUTHEAST GLENDALE — Heading into halftime, Hoover High’s football team had momentum on its side and its first victory in over a year in its sights.

Twenty-four minutes and 22 South Pasadena points later, the Tornadoes simply found themselves on the wrong end of another unsettling loss.

“I think the kids thought that [we were on our way to a win],” said first-year Hoover Coach Chris Long after his team’s 29-14 nonleague loss on Thursday night to visiting South Pas. “I knew it was two quarters left.”

In those two remaining quarters, South Pasadena (1-1) scored 22 points without a Hoover retort.

Meanwhile, Hoover players were falling like flies, most of them due to cramps.

“They just wore us down in the second half,” Long said.

Tornadoes quarterback Stephen Choi rallied the Tornadoes (0-2) from a 7-0 first-half deficit. Leading Long’s shotgun, no-huddle spread offense, Choi found running backs Jose Galan and Adriel Panganiban on touchdown strikes on each of the last two Hoover drives of the opening half.

But the 14-7 lead was short-lived.

South Pasadena tied the game on its first possession of the second half.

The Tigers took the lead for good when a Hoover snap skipped through punter Luismar Macias’ legs for a go-ahead safety and a 16-14 score.

Special teams haunted the Tornadoes all night, as two muffed punts and a dropped kickoff returned were all recovered by South Pasadena. The first muffed punt led to a 7-0 Tigers lead.

“We beat ourselves tonight,” said Long, whose team has lost 12 straight games.

After that, the biggest difference came in South Pasadena’s second-half offense stepping up and Hoover’s shutting down.

Choi passed for 116 yards on nine of 26 passing, but had just two completions in the second half.

In all, Hoover was held to 19 second-half yards.

In direct contrast, South Pasadena totaled 179 of its 272 yards in the second half.

Hoover’s defense still held its own. Panganiban, who had a four-yard touchdown catch with 43 seconds left in the first half, and AJ Pule had interceptions, while David Herrera had a fumble recovery.

Still, South Pasadena controlled the clock from the start, as Hoover had the ball just 3:30 of the first quarter.

Continuously, the Tigers pounded up the middle with running back Jung-Ho Lee carrying 24 times for 103 yards.

“We knew what they were gonna do,” Long said. “We just couldn’t get it done.”

South Pasadena quarterback Conor Bednarski had three total touchdowns, while Galan, who scored on a 36-yard screen pass, had 34 yards rushing in 13 carries and Pule had four catches for 62 yards.

It’s back to the drawing board for Hoover next week at San Marino.

“We’re just gonna keep playing, keep working,” Long said. “Rome wasn’t built overnight.”