Skip to content
Associate mug of Kenny Connolly, Anaheim reporter.

Date shot: 12/31/2012 . Photo by KATE LUCAS /  ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

MISSION VIEJO – Short week, even shorter memory for St. John Bosco.

Six days after dropping their first league contest since the 2011 season, the motivated Braves scored the first 34 points of the evening and pulverized No. 6 JSerra, 47-19, Thursday night in a Trinity League game at Saddleback College.

Bosco – ranked No. 3 in the latest CIF-SS Division 1 poll – scored on its first four offensive possessions of the night, and added a 25-yard scoop-and-score midway through the first quarter. Defensive end Tarrean Brown stripped JSerra quarterback Matt Robinson, allowing linebacker Cross Poyer to grab the loose ball and score on the Lions’ miscue.

“I was really excited the way that we responded after last week’s setback,” Braves coach Jason Negro said. “Our kids had a really good week of practice. Obviously it translated to the game. I thought we came out and played as good as we have all year in that first quarter.”

St. John Bosco (7-2, 3-1) scored 13 points off a pair of JSerra (5-4, 1-3) turnovers in the opening quarter. On the Lions’ second offensive play of the game, Poyer picked off a Robinson pass over the middle of the field and returned it 10 yards to the Lions’ 34. Running back Terrance Beasley scored three plays later on a 20-yard run.

JSerra’s first five possessions resulted in a pair of turnovers and three three-and-outs.

Braves junior quarterback Re-al Mitchell tormented the Lions defense with his speed and elusiveness in the open field, running for four first downs and a touchdown in the first half alone. Mitchell finished the night completing 14 of 21 passes for 216 yards and a score. He added 85 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 10 carries to lead Bosco’s offensive charge.

Lions senior Riley O’Brien scored the team’s first touchdown on a 1-yard plunge midway through the second quarter.

Robinson finished with 183 yards through the air and had a 30-yard touchdown pass to Kelley Stephens.

Contact the writer: kconnolly@scng.com