SAN BERNARDINO — The football team at JSerra High of San Juan Capistrano has started the season with a bang.
The Lions defeated host Aquinas 35-7 on Thursday night for their second consecutive impressive victory.
JSerra (2-0) dominated Sierra Canyon by the same score a week earlier.
The victory against Sierra Canyon catapulted JSerra from No. 14 to No. 6 in the Calhisports.com state rankings. Don’t look for the Lions to drop after their dominant effort against Aquinas.
“It’s been a great start, but we can’t get too high on ourselves,” Lions defensive end Simote Katoanga said. “We just have to keep humble and keep grinding.”
Added JSerra coach Victor Santa Cruz, “That’s a really talented Aquinas team. I think Aquinas is going to have a great season. They have athletes across the board, and they made plays, but we were able to capitalize on the opportunities we had.”
JSerra struck quickly, scoring on its first possession on a 3-yard run by Darian Webb. Quarterback Jordan Spigarelli completed three passes for 43 yards on the drive.
The Lions’ big offensive line led by Jake Flores, Josh Haney, and Niniva Nicholson provided Spigarelli with excellent protection.
JSerra’s defense paced by Garrett Dudenhoeffer, Katoanga, Rocco Tompkins, Madden Faraimo, and Elijah Filo is no picnic either. The Lions forced Aquinas into a three-and-out and JSerra went right back to work on offense.
It took the Lions just five plays to travel 42 yards to score on a 15-yard pass from Spigarelli to Clark Cokley for 14-0 with 3:55 left in the first quarter.
JSerra broke the game open early in the second quarter with its third scoring drive. Webb capped the 48-yard march with a 4-yard scoring run for his second touchdown and the Lions led 21-0.
JSerra added two more touchdowns in the third quarter as junior quarterback Ryan Hopkins bolted 21 yards for a score and running back William Fredericksen ran 19 yards to the end zone to put the Lions safely in front, 35-0.
Aquinas (0-2) kept plugging away, though, getting some nice runs out of Champ Brown before scoring on a 26-yard strike from quarterback Malachi Jones to Isaiah Qoroya early in the fourth quarter.
“It was very competitive, but we made a lot of mistakes,” Qoroya said. “We’ll work on it this week and get back after it. This is a high level of football. (Playing JSerra) helps us become stronger as a team.”
Aquinas lost to another stellar team, Oak Hills, to start the season.
“When you play teams like (JSerra), you’ve got to compete every single play,” Aquinas coach Jordan Brusig said. “There were plays where we weren’t doing our job and they exposed us. But we were pursuing to the football and we were being very physical. There was no quit and I’m happy about that.”
Hopkins threw for 97 yards and rushed for 53, and Spigorelli threw for 75 yards for the Lions. Brett Debergh caught four passes for 78 yards. Webb rushed 11 times for 63 yards and two scores.
Charlie Reyes threw for 67 yards for Aquinas and Jones threw for 51. Senior running back Jusyis “Jojo” Solis caught six passes for 65 yards. But the Falcons had difficulty running against the Lions.
JSerra sophomore nose guard Filo was one of the reasons why.
“We wanted to dominate,” Filo said. “Pedal to the metal all game. When we scored those two touchdowns in the first quarter, that was a big turning point.”
