SANTA FE SPRINGS – JSerra crushed St. Paul in the first half and cruised to a 42-7 victory in a nonleague game Friday on the Swordsmen’s field.
The Lions (5-0) led 35-0 at halftime and Coach Jim Hartigan played reserves in the third and fourth quarters. It’s been a familiar pattern for JSerra in its nonleague schedule.
“We played the way we’ve played in the first half of all of our games,” Hartigan said. “The kids played hard and we run the ball well. Both our quarterbacks (Riley O’Brien and Matt Robinson) run our offense fairly well.
“We have some things to clean up, like penalties and we threw an interception. We still need to improve.”
Avery Williams had 47-yard run for the Lions’ opening touchdown and an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the second quarter. The 190-pound transfer from St. Francis gained 90 yards on seven plays, all in the first half.
“He’s a good football player for us and he’s obviously done a nice job returning punts,” Hartigan said. “He’s returned four for touchdowns, but two were called back because of penalties. We need him to do those type of things for us.”
O’Brien and Robinson alternated at quarterback, as usual, and Hartigan said the trend will continue in the Trinity League.
“I think we need two quarterbacks in the Trinity League,” Hartigan said “We’re going to stay with that. They’re both efficient.”
O’Brien completed 4 of 6 for 30 yards and had one interception. Robinson completed all four of his passes for 38 yards. Robinson also had a 12-yard TD run in the second. JSerra’s Charlie Mestaz had 1- and 2-yard touchdown runs to end drives of 40 and 80 yards.
JSerra’s final score came on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Michael Zabran in the third quarter. St. Paul is 3-2.
