On Friday October 21, 2022 the South El Monte Eagles were scheduled to face the El Monte Lions in a rivalry game for the Griffin bowl trophy. The Lions had won the Griffin bowl game the past two years, and the Eagles were looking to return the Griffin Trophy back to South El Monte hands. 

The game started at 7:00 PM with the Eagles kicking off the ball to the Lions. South El Monte’s defense came out strong stopping the Lions on their first drive forcing them to punt. The Eagles started their first offensive drive at their own 35 yard line, also getting stopped by the Lions defense and forced to punt the ball. The Lions received the ball and started running the ball against the Eagles defense driving the ball all the way down to the Eagles 6 yard line and handed the ball off on a touchdown run with the scoreboard at 0-7 in favor of the Lions. The Eagles receive the ball and come out strong scoring a 78 yard touchdown pass to Christopher Vasquez, this ending the first quarter with a tied score (7-7).

The Lions offense was stopped by the Eagles forcing them to punt from their own 2 yard line leaving the Eagles on the Lions 30 yard line. The Eagles were also stopped by the Lions defense and turned over the ball on a failed 4th down conversion, the Lions also turned over the ball after a failed 4th down conversion, leaving the Eagles with great field positioning. The Eagles made sure to capitalize on this and score a rushing touchdown to running back Alexander Ramos putting the Eagles in the lead 14-7. The Lions offense came out with a barrage of runs and passes and positioned the ball on the Eagles 5 yard line. The Lions scored on a reverse play ending the first half with the score tied 14-14. 

The Lions kicked off to the Eagles starting the second half. The Eagles offense was forced to punt by the Lions defense. The Eagles soon made up for this as their defense made an interception by Christopher Vazquez. Again the Eagles were held to a 4th down and turned over the ball to the Lions. The ball was driven down the field again by the Lions and scored a rushing touchdown. The third quarter ended with the score 14-21 and the Lions up. 

The fourth quarter started with the Eagles having possession of the ball needing the score to tie the game. They drove the ball down to the Lions 18 yard line where they scored another passing touchdown to D’Angelo Huerta tying the score at 21-21. The Lions gained possession of the ball and were held to a 4th down where the Eagles received the ball. The Eagles went for a pass on the second play of their drive and ended up throwing a pick 6 which ended up costing them the game. The game ended with the Lions defeating the Eagles 21-28.