LONG BEACH – Coach Jim Hartigan wasn’t all that concerned when his JSerra football team headed into the locker room Friday night, knotted in a scoreless tie with Long Beach Cabrillo.
He knew eventually his offense would find its rhythm.
In two quarters’ time, JSerra was side-steeping into the end zone at a rapid pace.
The visiting Lions pounced on Cabrillo via the run, and Paramount transfer Edward Vander ran for 126 yards and three touchdowns on 23 carries to power JSerra to a 40-0 nonleague victory.
“It was a defensive struggle (in the first half),” Hartigan said. “We made some mistakes with penalties and turnovers, but it was good to see us come back and settle down offensively.”
Senior Daniel Bailey also fueled the running game with touchdown runs of 26 and 10 yards for the Lions (1-0).
JSerra got on the board with 10:45 remaining in the third quarter after the Lions marched73 yards on a six-play drive that resulted in a Bailey rushing touchdown. The Lions found their stride again in the fourth quarter, capping a 13-play drive on Vander’s 2-yard run just five seconds into the quarter.
JSerra forced two turnovers in the fourth, including Riley O’ Brien’s interception, which led to quarterback Nick Robinson’s 65-yard scoring pass to Conor O’ Brien. Robinson threw for 243 yards on the night.
The Lions thrived offensively, despite being limited to just 41 yards of offense in the first half.
Cabrillo (0-1) was led by quarterback Michael LoVett, a transfer from Indiana, who threw for 106 yards and rushed for 57 yards. JSerra had issues with the fleet-footed play-caller in the first half, but Cabrillo failed to produce inside the red zone on multiple occasions.
“We just made a couple of adjustments up front and went through a couple variations of plays and it worked for them,” Hartigan said.
