The Hoover High football team played its toughest competition in two years in South Pasadena on Friday night, and came away with a 48-15 loss to the Tigers.

“We didn’t really execute the way we should have,” said Hoover’s Aram Darbinyan.

South Pasadena, which advanced to the CIF Southern Section Division 11 Semifinals a year ago, scored the first three touchdowns of the game to take a commanding 20-0 lead.

Hoover cut into the lead after a muffed punt to make it 20-7 in the second quarter, but the Tigers – who were in the Division 13 semifinals two years ago — then scored the next 28 points to run away with the win.

Ryan Oh scored the last touchdown of the game for the Tornados.

“We had a sloppy week of practice,” Hoover Coach Azad Herabidian said. “South Pasadena is a very good team. They beat every team that they play, but we also have a couple of injuries and unfortunate disciplinary issues right before the game and caused us to make some last-minute adjustments. We didn’t have our best players out there nor our best effort.”