MISSION VIEJO – With a three-year starter under center, opposing defenses will have enough trouble as it is stopping Nick Robinson and his JSerra offense full of playmakers when given no additional assistance.
As Chino Hills learned on Friday night, if you give the senior signal caller a short field to work with, it’s going to be an even longer evening.
With the Lions starting seven possessions inside Huskies territory, Robinson completed 17 of 24 passes for 204 yards and four touchdowns, giving No. 5 JSerra a 45-21 victory over Chino Hills in a nonleague game at Saddleback College.
The Lions 6-foot-1 veteran quarterback completed passes to seven receivers on the night and hit four different teammates in the end zone for scores.
“That’s what we’re built to do,” said JSerra coach Jim Hartigan. “We’ve been running this system now for three years. Our quarterback is a three-year veteran and he understands what’s there and what’s not. He had a couple key runs to move the chains. We couldn’t get the inside run game going, so he took the ball to the perimeter.”
Despite being outgained by more than 150 yards and running half as many plays as the Chino Hills offense in the first half, the Lions (2-0) took a 21-14 lead into the break.
The score remained the same late in the third quarter until JSerra’s Riley O’Brien blocked a Huskies punt, giving the Lions possession at the Chino Hills’ 36-yard line. Five plays later, Robinson connected with O’Brien for an 11-yard score, extending the lead to 28-14.
In the fourth quarter, Robinson added a 46-yard touchdown pass to Sam Philippi and a 5-yard score to Kevin Hicks, extending the lead to 42-14.
JSerra’s defense limited a Chino Hills team that scored 63 points a week ago to 21 points on the night. The defensive line, led by senior DJ Bailey, dropped Huskies quarterback Zac Sturdivant behind the line of scrimmage nine times.
“We didn’t blitz as much as we did a week ago,” Hartigan added. “We tried to play a little more coverage and were sound with a four-man rush.”
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
