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JSerra Catholic soundly defeated Aquinas of San Bernardino, 45-13, at home Friday night, Aug. 25, earning first-year head coach Victor Santa Cruz his first victory as the Lions’ head man.
Yet, Santa Cruz acknowledged his team needed to make significant progress if it wanted to reach its goal of winning the Trinity League. Despite JSerra’s overall success, the Lions committed 13 penalties–two of which counted for ejections–along with three more personal fouls that offset and didn’t count towards Friday’s total.
“This is an amazing game, and penalties have no place in it,” he said. “The refs make mistakes at times, but not tonight. Tonight, it was the Lions not being disciplined, so…I’m going to get that fixed.”
Santa Cruz added that the team couldn’t beat itself and successfully achieve a high level of play, and that his staff wouldn’t condone such behavior regardless.
Beyond the penalties, JSerra’s roster simply overmatched the smaller Falcons, even when both sides of the ball weren’t clicking on all cylinders.
The Lions’ running back room were the biggest beneficiaries of the size disparity, combining for 214 yards and four touchdowns. Junior quarterback Michael “Butter” Tollefson went 9-for-18 passing, throwing for 130 yards and an interception in addition to scoring once on the ground.
JSerra’s offense improved markedly from a seven-point effort the previous week in a loss to Sierra Canyon, according to Santa Cruz, who saw better execution of the system and understanding of the sideline playcalling system.
“All in all, you see a team that keeps improving, but this is–once again, as I get to grow this program and be a part of it–you realize, ‘This reared its ugly head (again),’” said the head coach. “It’s through refinement of heat that you find the impurities, so for us right now, we’ve got to refine this team more and more.”
Whether through defense or special teams, the Lions offense often found itself in advantageous field position to start drives.
Senior running back George Perez returned the opening kickoff to the Aquinas’ 15-yard line, and after three straight runs, Tollefson took a sweep play six yards around the edge on fourth down for JSerra’s first touchdown.
A partially blocked punt that traveled out of bounds at the Falcons’ 25 set up shop for JSerra again. Despite a penalty that moved the Lions back, Tollefson completed three straight passes to keep the drive moving, setting up Perez to plunge in for a 7-yard score.
Tollefson worked that same scrambling magic on the ensuing drive to run to convert a fourth down and find receiver Brett DeBergh for a 30-yard strike. Kamar Garbourel punched in a four-yard run to put up the Lions 21-0, and the rout was on.
Aquinas failed to find consistent success most of the night. The Falcons’ first possession deep into JSerra territory faltered on a fourth down, and their first score came late in the third quarter, as a personal foul and a 38-yard pass play pushed the drive forward.
Yaqiym Haliburton’s one-handed, contested sideline catch put Aquinas in position to eventually squeeze into the end zone off quarterback Charlie Reyes’ 1-yard sneak.
Junior Gabriel Rivas punctuated JSerra’s night, scoring on a 7-yard run after the Lions tackled the Aquinas punter near his own goal line. He also ran through defenders on the first play of the following possession for a 60-yard touchdown, giving JSerra a 45-7 lead with 5:03 to play.
Perez led all rushers with 77 yards and two scores on 10 carries, and Haliburton paced all receivers by hauling in five passes for 95 yards.
JSerra hosts Chaminade of West Hills on Friday, Sept. 1.
