MISSION VIEJO – Opponents have had a tough time figuring out exactly what to try to take away from JSerra’s offense this season.
Do they try to take away the running attack of Edward Vander and Aaron Matthews and force the Lions to pass? Or do they attempt to limit three-year starting quarterback Nick Robinson through the air and let JSerra run?
“They have to pick their poison,” Lions coach Jim Hartigan said before the game.
St. Bonaventure wasn’t able to stop much of anything on Friday night, and fell to explosive JSerra, 42-28, in a nonleague game at Saddleback College.
Coming into the game, St. Bonaventure was ranked 13th in the state by CalHiSports, while JSerra checked in at 14th.
The Lions (4-0) showed those rankings didn’t mean much in the first half. After St. Bonaventure quarterback and USC commit Ricky Town put the Seraphs ahead, 7-0, with a 42-yard scoring pass to Lavan Alston, JSerra went to work.
Vander burst through the middle of the St. Bonaventure defense for a 72-yard touchdown.
In the second quarter, the Lions went on a six-play, 80-yard drive – all runs – which culminated with a 4-yard scoring run by Matthews.
Vander caught a pass from Robinson, bounced off a Seraphs defender and went 25 yards into the end zone to make it a 21-7 game at the break.
Robinson hurt St. Bonaventure with his arm for a second time in the third when he hooked up Ethan Aguayo for a 30-yard score to put his team up by three scores.
Aguayo didn’t stop there, though. Later in the third quarter, he returned a kickoff 83 yards on his way to the end zone.
It was a crucial play as the Seraphs (2-2) just crept within two scores.
St. Bonaventure didn’t go away quietly, though. The Seraphs scored the final two touchdowns, one of which was an 80-yard run by Chris Santoyo. Santoyo finished with 18 rushes for 154 yards.
JSerra did a good job of holding Town down despite his 288 passing yards. He connected on less than half of his passes, as he completed 21 of his 45.
Vander finished with 133 yards rushing on 16 carries for the Lions. Matthews ran for 68 yards on six carries.
JSerra has scored at least 40 points in each game this season. The defense is allowing just 16.5 points a game on top of that.
This is the third consecutive year the Lions have started 4-0.
Contact the writer: amorales@ocregister.com
