Warren football teaches Dominguez a few things in league opener

DOWNEY — Warren gave Dominguez a bully sensation of what it’s similar adjacent the top, romping to a 54-12 triumph successful a conflict of unbeatens contempt cardinal absences, costly penalties and wavering sharpness arsenic it took the tract for the archetypal clip successful 3 weeks.

Junior Nicholaus Iamaleava, playing the archetypal 3 quarters, threw for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 to Jordan Anderson, and the Bears’ defence unopen down the visitors’ vibrant onslaught astir of the mode successful the San Gabriel Valley League opener for some teams.

Warren (5-0, 1-0) forced a information and 4 fumbles, 1 returned 36 yards for a touchdown by sophomore J.T. Houston, and constricted the Dons (5-1, 0-1) to 15 yards successful the archetypal fractional and minus-8 rushing each night.

Dominguez had outscored 5 nonleague foes, 245-14 — putting up much than 40 points 4 times and 60-plus doubly — and caput manager Deon Toliver noted beforehand that helium was “going to find retired a batch astir our team.” He surely did.

The Bears’ antiaircraft enactment provided fantabulous tract presumption — they started 7 of their archetypal 8 drives, into the 3rd quarter, successful Dominguez territory — and Iamaleava and Co. took advantage, gathering a 29-0 halftime lead, past pushing it to 41-0 successful the archetypal 3 minutes of the 2nd half.

“I learned we’re not acceptable for this caliber of shot close now,” Toliver said. “We’ve inactive got a ways to go. (Warren is) conscionable much polished than us, and that’s the bottommost line. They’re astir apt a Division 1 team, and we’re astir apt astir a Division 6-7 team, oregon possibly adjacent little than that.

“They gave america a show, and, hopefully, we’ll physique from this. When we get to our playoffs, we ain’t gonna spot thing similar this.”

Warren, ranked 22nd successful the authorities by Calpreps, wasn’t astatine its champion connected offense, sputtering astatine times earlier striking with a large play, but it dominated defensively until the backmost Jordan Carr drove the Dons connected 2 touchdown drives successful the 3rd quarter.

The Bears had been incapable to signifier for a week and a fractional aft a COVID-19 shutdown outgo them a crippled astatine Culver City 2 weeks agone — 3 players were inactive successful quarantine, among a half-dozen cardinal contributors missing — and caput manager Kevin Pearson thought the clip disconnected outgo it immoderate momentum.

“We had to benignant of commencement each over,” helium said. “It was astir similar starting campy each over, and it showed, for sure. It was a bully ‘first’ game. Not great, but good.”

There were dropped balls, 4 holding penalties (costing Warren 82 yards and a touchdown pass), and an Iamaleava fumble into the extremity portion 4 plays aft Dominguez fumbled connected its connected its 4th play of the game. Both starting guards were sidelined, and immoderate missed routes and dropped balls slowed things down.

The Bears scored connected the 4 drives aft the giveaway, past got a information connected a drawback implicit Dominguez punter Kylon Bias and retired of the extremity zone. Iamaleava connected with Joshua Johnson (5 receptions for 77 yards) for a 30-yard touchdown successful the mediate of the archetypal 4th and with Anderson (4 for 87) a 1-yarder connected the archetypal play of the 2nd 4th and a 56-yarder connected third-and-34 to marque it 27-0.

“Jordan’s my guy. Think we got that beauteous connection,” said the 6-foot-6 Iamaleava, who completed 18 of 29 passes, 15 of his past 21. “I cognize wherever he’s going to be, and I conscionable got to enactment the ball, and he’s gonna get it.”

Romeo Clark successful the archetypal fractional and Markus Higgs and Jonta Smith successful a marathon 3rd 4th ran for scores, and Iamaleava’s small member — Madden, a 6-2 freshman — threw a TD walk to De’Anthony Curtis with a small much than 4 minutes to go.

“We’re conscionable trying to get to wherever each the apical teams are,” Anderson said. “So we’ve got to enactment connected a amusement and amusement what we’re about. It’s each astir that. It’s not astir being cocky oregon nothing, we’re conscionable trying to get enactment in.”

The crippled took 3 hours, 20 minutes to complete, adjacent with a fourth-quarter moving clock, with repeated third-quarter delays, 3 successful 1 four-play sequence, arsenic Dominguez players — including prima information Takhari Carr — dealt with cramps. Most had not played much than a fractional successful the erstwhile games.

“This was the archetypal clip they got extended similar this,” Toliver said. “The archetypal clip they had to tally hard, play hard, connected each down. I deliberation it showed.”

Ford completed 15 of 25 throws for 131 yards, deed Cionta Davis for a 13-yard TD and ran for a 6-yard people aft a spectacular Damonte Bias drawback astatine the Warren 12. Ormarnie Arnold caught 7 passes for 77 yards.