LOS ANGELES – There were quite a few offensive drives in last night’s Division III playoff contest when the Monroe Vikings could have taken over the game, but fate had other plans. Dropped passes, miscommunication between receivers and the quarterbacks (the Vikings used two quarterbacks last night), missed tackles, and below-average outside containment on the opponent’s running backs on defense doomed the Vikings to their 31-14 loss to the Contreras Cobras at Contreras High School Stadium in the Westlake area of Downtown Los Angeles.
Quite possibly the most frustrating part of Monroe’s (3-8 overall) loss last night was that they didn’t capitalize on a 73-yard touchdown reception late in the first quarter. After that score, drive after drive either ended in punts (two), a turnover on downs (seven), the second-half game clock running out on them (one), or interceptions (two). Another sad reality of this game was that Contreras (4-7) was not 17 points better than Monroe; the home team did a better job of taking advantage of their offensive drives than the visitors.
With this win, the Cobras move on to the quarterfinal round, where they will travel to East Los Angeles to take on Division III’s number one seeded team, the Roosevelt Rough Riders. With this loss, the Vikings, for the fourth time in the last six years, have been party to first-round playoff exits (2021, 2022, 2023, and 2026).
Monroe Head Coach Donny Senegal knew his team had a battle on its hands with the gritty blue-collar Cobras.
“Contreras is a good team; they looked great on film, and we knew we had to battle; it just wasn’t our night,” Senegal said.
The Cobras’ running game punctured the Vikings’ defense to the tune of 279 yards on 37 carries with three touchdown runs. The Cobras threw three runners at the Vikings defense and all three of them had their own measure of success. Sophomore running back Josue Mendoza led the Cobras’ running game with 129 yards on 17 carries, and scored his only touchdown on a four-yard scoring catch early in the fourth quarter. Then there was senior running back Anthony Arreaga, who was a master at running regular or buck sweeps to the outside (left and right). He gained 99 yards on 10 carries and he scored twice. Then there was junior fullback Kenneth Mejia, who chipped in with 27 yards on six carries. Mendoza and Mejia were the power runners and Arreaga was the flashy runner.
The Vikings not only had to put up with those three, but they also had to deal with senior quarterback Chris Oxlaj (four carries for 24 yards and one score), who may be the best overall athlete on the entire Cobras team. He had a 74-yard touchdown run wiped out in the fourth quarter. If that run had counted, he would have had 98 yards on five carries, good for third on his team last night. As far as his passing, he went two for four for 41 yards and one scoring toss.
All-season senior running back Noah Lima has carried the Monroe running game, and at times their entire offense. But last night, outside of two runs of 24 (first quarter) and 20 yards (fourth quarter), Lima had a quiet night. He carried 18 times for 61 yards and no scores against the Cobras. The Cobras did their homework on Lima, which hurt the Vikings’ offensive plans and also meant that the passing game had to step up. Outside of the dropped passes and the lack of consistent synchronization between the quarterbacks and receivers, the Vikings put up a good fight with their passing game.
Senior quarterback Adrian Cruz as a passer went 10 of 21 for 220 yards and one scoring toss. He distributed his passes among five offensive players which included sophomore Angel Jimenez, who led the team in receiving with two catches for 117 yards and one score. Cruz’s backup at quarterback in sophomore wide receiver/quarterback James Vasquez (four catches for 32 yards), junior Jevion Brown (two catches for 45 yards; he caught one pass from Cruz and one from Vasquez), senior Adrian Samson (two catches for 33 yards), and Lima (one catch for 15 yards). Cruz praised his receivers’ performances last night, particularly Jimenez.
“I’m proud of him [Jimenez], an upcoming junior; he showed what he can do,” Cruz said.
Cruz didn’t finish the game due to an injury to his lower left leg. The pain was so bad in his leg that he took himself out of the game in the fourth quarter, pushing away help from teammates and the Emergency Medical Technician so he could nurse his leg on the Vikings bench. Vasquez took over for him and went two for six for 29 yards and two interceptions. He carried the ball four times for minus five yards and he was sacked once. On defense, he had one tackle and one quarterback pressure. Vasquez was succinct when he was asked what he and his teammates have planned for 2027 and beyond for the Vikings program.
“[I want us] to be doing better [in 2027] than this year, Vasquez opined. “Got to go for the chip [football vernacular for the Division III Championship in 2027].”
On defense, the Vikings were led by senior linebacker Chris Ortiz, who had 12 tackles (three solos, 9 assists), two tackles for loss, and one fourth-down stop. Then there was fellow senior linebacker Matthew Macias, who was in on 9 tackles (one solo, 8 assists), four tackles for loss, and four quarterback pressures. Both of those players should see their names on the East Valley All-Conference teams in December. Senior cornerback Anthony Castro (one catch for seven yards on offense) was in on seven tackles (two solos, five assists) and one quarterback hurry. Jimenez was in on five tackles. Senior defensive end Andy Casiano led the defensive line in tackles with seven (one solo, six assists) and he had one tackle for loss, one quarterback hurry, and one quarterback pressure. Linebacker Eric de la Cruz had three tackles and one quarterback hurry. Senior punter and linebacker Diego Tellez (two for two on PAT kicks) collected five tackles, which included one fourth-down stop and one quarterback pressure. Tellez also had two punts for 58 yards, with a long punt of 42 yards in the second quarter. Senior defensive lineman Angel Guevara was in on four tackles (one solo, three assists). Junior defensive tackle Jason Avita had five tackles (two solos, three assists) and three tackles for loss.
The Cobras scored first when Arreaga ran to his left and then followed a block from left guard David Perez to the left corner of the end zone for a two-yard scoring run. Arreaga’s point-after-kick was no good, but the Cobras had themselves a 6-0 lead with 7:21 left in the first quarter.
Less than two minutes after that Cobras scoring run, Monroe countered with a Cruz-to-Jimenez 73-yard scoring catch down the seam. The Tellez extra point kick was good, giving the Vikings a 7-6 lead with 5:41 remaining in the first quarter.
Arreaga scored his second touchdown of the game when he took an Oxlaj handoff and ran laterally to his right; he then started running forward around the Vikings’ 25-yard line and it was from there that he raced to the end zone to complete a 25-yard scoring run. Arreaga’s extra point kick sailed end over end through the uprights to give his team a 13-7 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish for the rest of the contest.
On the Cobras’ next scoring play, Oxlaj showed why he is his team’s best athlete. He took the snap and then ran back to the Viking 15-yard line; he didn’t see anything he liked as far as open targets, so he took off to his left and raced past three Vikings defenders, and he didn’t stop running until he reached the end zone. The virtually easy eight-yard scoring run and Arreaga’s true extra-point kick moved the Cobras’ lead to 20-7 with 52 seconds left in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, the Vikings scored their last touchdown of the game when Vasquez followed three blocks by offensive linemen Vasquez Bersain and Aldo Cortez, as well as a block from Tellez on the edge, to get into the end zone from one yard out. Tellez sent his last extra-point kick of the game through the uprights and the score moved to 20-14 with 8:20 left in the third quarter.
Arreaga pretty much put the game away when he connected on a 21-yard field goal, which moved his team’s lead to 23-14 with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
The Cobras closed out the game’s scoring when Oxlaj found a wide-open Mendoza in the back of the end zone for a four-yard scoring connection. Mendoza scored on the two-point conversion run to put the score at 31-14 with 10:35 left in the game.
The Vikings’ last two offensive drives ended on an interception (penultimate drive) and a high snap (their last drive of the game) to Vasquez, which he had to fall on at the Vikings’ 23-yard line, resulting in a 14-yard loss. Game over.