Hollywood ending: Strathmore wins second state title in SoCal
When Gerardo Ruiz woke up early on Saturday morning he had no idea what he was about to accomplish.
He and the Strathmore football team hopped on a bus at 5:30 a.m. to make the three-plus hour journey to Pasadena City College to take on Bell Gardens in the CIF Division 7-A State Football Championship Game.
Just over two hours after kickoff at 11 a.m., Ruiz and his teammates celebrated at midfield with the State Championship trophy raised to the heavens. Strathmore defeated Bell Gardens 42-7 with Ruiz scoring five rushing touchdowns in the game.
“This morning I was just locked in, I didn’t want to let my brothers down,” Ruiz said. “I woke up and thought that I was going to run my heart out. It was a shock (scoring five touchdowns) but all of my teammates left it all out on the field. That was really why my five touchdowns happened today.”
Ruiz, a sophomore, was forced to step up and play a bigger role for Strathmore as senior Jacob Poole was unable to play due to an injury. Entering Saturday’s game, Poole had 30 total rushing touchdowns to Ruiz’s eight.
“He (Gerardo) took ownership, picked up the flag, and just ran with it. It felt like Mel Gibson running in ‘The Patriot,’” Strathmore head coach Jeromy Blackwell said.
Stepping up in the face of adversity has been ingrained in the Strathmore football team’s DNA all season. The Spartans lost three of their first six games, and ended up finishing third in the East Sequoia League. The biggest adversity the team overcame, though, happened before the season even began.
On the last day of June, Blackwell collapsed due to a heat stroke while doing yard work in his backyard. Blackwell fell face-first into a small puddle of water, where he would remain for over two hours until his wife discovered him.
More: From coma to section champion: Coach Jeromy Blackwell inspires at Strathmore
After being rushed to the hospital, Blackwell spent the next eight days in a medically-induced coma. Blackwell returned home from the hospital just 11 days before Strathmore was set to begin practice. Not coaching his team never crossed his mind.
“I thought I was going to have to show up on a walker and as I improved, those kids were the driving force. Those kids nursed me to health” Blackwell said before taking a brief pause. “I feel like the best thing I can try to do is mentor them. To go from June 30, just about dropping dead, to being here — God put me here for a reason and I just hope I can live up to whatever he brought me back for.”
Game ball
Gerardo Ruiz was the engine that drove the Spartans’ offense. Ruiz carried the ball 16 times for 221 yards along with his five rushing touchdowns.
Julian Ceballos made the two biggest defensive plays of the game for Strathmore. Bell Gardens fumbled on its first play of the game and Ceballos jumped on the loose football to give his team an instant red zone opportunity (and subsequent 14-0 lead). Then, with Bell Gardens threatening to make it a touchdown game late in the third quarter, Ceballos batted a pass at the line of scrimmage on fourth and goal to prevent the touchdown.
“Every turnover builds energy and gets us more hyped up,” Ceballos said.
More: Senior QBs lead the way for state-bound CVC, Mission Oak and Strathmore
By the numbers
0 – The number of passing plays that Strathmore ran in the game. Blackwell, a former fullback for Fresno State, said that the coaching staff realized at halftime that they may win the game without attempting a pass.
4 – The number of turnovers the Strathmore defense forced. The Spartans recovered two fumbles, intercepted one pass, and forced one turnover on downs.
They said it
Ruiz on how he will reflect on Saturday’s game and the season as a whole: “We just beat adversity and it was incredible. We can do anything that we set our minds to.”
Blackwell on his decision to bus the team early in the morning instead of staying the night in a hotel: “It would have been four guys to a room, two to a bed. I know what that turns into, it just is a sleepover at that point and it's a vacation. We weren’t on a vacation, the vacation starts now and so we wanted to make it a business trip.”
Ceballos on the team’s mindset heading into the game: “Before the game, I thought we had it. Like coach told us, we are 14 points better than them. And I never come into a game thinking I am going to lose. So every play I give it my all.
Blackwell on next season after winning a state championship with several key underclassmen: “We are going to live this up in the moment. Next week is winter break, so we are going to go back to work on January 11. Then we will start another countdown.”
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Strathmore wins CIF Division 7-A State Football Championship Game
