Displaying an explosive offense while holding their opponents to a mere 150 total yards, the Diamond Bar Brahmas emerged victorious in their highly anticipated matchup against the Walnut Mustangs during the Branding Iron game on Oct. 20, 35-12.
This dominant victory propelled the Brahmas to back-to-back Hacienda League Championship titles and guaranteed their postseason appearance.
Junior quarterback Quinton Mendoza led the offensive charge, completing 11 of 15 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, both of which connected to junior wide receiver and cornerback Brian Vu. Mendoza’s passing touchdowns were complemented by two rushing touchdowns from junior slotback Isaac Insuasti and one rushing touchdown from senior running back and linebacker Jeremy Torres.
The Brahma defense also proved impenetrable, combining for a total of 58 tackles and five sacks. Junior middle linebacker Matthew Galvan led the team in tackles with 11, while senior defensive lineman Morgan Magee led the team in sacks with two.
Insuasti put the first points on the board for Diamond Bar with a 56-yard rushing touchdown. A successful point-after-touchdown attempt followed, giving the Brahmas an early 7-0 lead. The rest of the first quarter played out with multiple possession changes, but no additional points were scored.
In the second quarter, the Mustangs earned their first points after kicking a successful field goal to make the score 7-3. But soon after, Diamond Bar recovered a fumble made by Walnut and converted their turnover into a seven-yard rushing touchdown from Insuasti to extend their lead to 14-3. There were multiple possession changes during the remainder of the quarter, but no additional points were scored, giving the Brahmas a nine-point lead at halftime.
An action-packed second half commenced with a 31-yard reception touchdown from Vu—his first of the night. A successful PAT attempt followed, giving the Brahmas a 21-3 lead. The Mustangs responded with a long reception touchdown of their own, but failed to convert the PAT, setting the score at 21-9. Soon after, the Mustangs recovered a fumble made by the Brahmas, but ultimately failed to take advantage of the turnover due to a strong red zone defense and settled for a field goal instead. The third quarter concluded after several possession changes, and no additional points were scored.
With a nine-point lead going into the final 12 minutes of regulation, Mendoza connected with senior wide receiver Kai Jenkins on a long reception to set up a first and goal from the one-yard line. Torres then converted this into a short rushing touchdown, increasing the score to 28-12. Vu scored the final points of the heavily Brahma-favored game with a 62-yard reception touchdown. A successful PAT followed, setting the final score at 35-12.
Despite having high hopes going into the first round of the CIF-SS Division 9 playoffs, the Brahmas fell to the Orange Panthers on Nov. 3 with a score of 19-12.
