COSTA MESA – At the end of the day, someone inevitably had to lose Friday night’s epic back-and-forth game between JSerra and St. John Bosco.
While the Lions will be credited with the loss, there’s no doubting this JSerra team is one of the best teams in not only the Pac-5 Division, but the state.
St. John Bosco needed every one of running back Sean McGrew’s 385 rushing yards and all five of his touchdowns to hold off No. 3 JSerra in a 49-44 Trinity League showdown played at Orange Coast College.
Edward Vander played like an All-County running back for JSerra, totaling 217 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries.
McGrew scored on touchdown runs 16, 75, 75, 4 and 70 to lead his team to the victory.
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VIDEO: Cox 3 Post Game Show: JSerra vs. St. John Bosco
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His final score came with 1:56 remaining in the fourth, with Bosco leading 42-38.
On a fourth-and-16 from its own 30-yard line, Braves coach Jason Negro called for a fake punt with McGrew – the team’s regular punter – back awaiting the snap.
“I thought we were going to punt it because I thought coach was trusting our defense even though they weren’t stopping them all night,” McGrew said. “They brought all 11, they were going all out blitz, no one was sealing the edge, and we just called it.”
The 5-foot-7 speedster went 70 yards untouched, breaking a four-point game into an 11-point Bosco lead, the largest advantage held by either team all night.
JSerra (6-1, 1-1) showed its heart late, driving 67 yards on its ensuing drive in just over a minute. Lions senior quarterback Nick Robinson connected with Ethan Aguayo for the duo’s second touchdown pass, this one a 12-yarder with 44 seconds remaining.
Unable to convert on the 2-point conversion, JSerra lined up for an onside kick, trailing 49-44.
What looked to be a perfectly executed onside kick recovered by the Lions was ruled Braves ball when a Lions player was called for illegal touching.
“It looked clean to me,” JSerra coach Jim Hartigan said. “If anything, I thought it may have went 9 1/2 yards, but that’s not what they told me. They said it hit someone’s knee.”
As a result, Bosco (6-1, 2-0) was able to run out the remaining 40 seconds on the clock to extend its Trinity League winning streak to 13 games dating to November 2011.
“It was definitely a battle, we haven’t gone through a game like this all season,” McGrew added.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
