Serra Catholic defeats California, 30-8
Eagles’ quarterback TJ Heatherington accounted for 214 yards of total offense and threw for two touchdowns in the victory. “We are a very young team and tonight we came out and showed how young we are early on,” Serra Catholic coach Rich Bowen said. “We had some problems hanging onto the ball and also taking advantage of some good field position early.”
The Eagles (1-1) drove the ball down to the California 13-yard-line but were held short and four-down and 3 with 3:12 left in the first quarter.
But two plays later, the Eagles got on the board thanks to a Trojans’ miscue. An errant snap, out of shotgun formation, went over quarterback DJ Martinak’s head and through the end zone for a safety.
Heatherington tacked on a 54-yard pass to Randall Coleman midway through the second quarter for a 9-0 lead.
“Looking back at it, our defense kept us in the game,” California coach Joe Kuhns said. “We just couldn’t get anything going on offense.”
In fact, the Trojans (0-2) mustered just 142 yards of total offense in the game.
Still, the game was just 9-0 at halftime.
But in the second half, Heatherington and the Eagles’ offense started clicking. Serra Catholic scored 21 points in the third quarter as backup quarterback Rob Heatherington connected with Coleman for a 9-yard strike, Josh Moody scored on a 3-yard run and Kyle Taylor scored on a 14-yard pass from TJ Heatherington.
“Randall and I really started clicking after a while,” Heatherington said. “I think we came out of our shell a little bit in the second half after struggling in the first half.”
Still, Heatherington – who led the Eagles to the Class A championship game last season – said he was impressed with how the Trojans played on defense.
“I was really impressed with their defense,” Heatherington said. “I didn’t expect that.”
The Trojans did tack on a touchdown in the final minutes of the fourth quarter when freshman quarterback Td Conway connected with Winston Clements for a 23-yard scoring strike.
“Tonight, we figured out how to be physical on defense,” Kuhns said. “Now, we just need to figure out how to get something going on offense. We have to figure out what sets are going to work for us.”
Scoring Summary:
Serra Catholic……..2 7 2 1 0 – 30
California …. 0 0 0 8 – 8
First Quarter
SC – Team safety, 2:35
Second Quarter
SC – Randall Coleman 54 pass form TJ Heatherington (Nick Rossi kick), 3:45
Third Quarter
SC – Coleman 9 pass from Rob Heatherington (Neal McFarland run), 5:46
SC – Josh Moody 3 run (kick fail), 2:04
SC – Kyle Taylor 14 pass from TJ Heatherington (Rossi kick), 1:12
Fourth Quarter
C – Winston Clements 23 pass from Td Conway (Wade Stinnett pass from Conway), 2:10