Column: St. John Bosco, L.A. Loyola see value in playing weaker opponents
St. John Bosco running back Sean McGrew, right, carries the ball past Long Beach Poly’s James Brooks Jr. during the Braves’ division semifinal victory last season.
Play time is over for Bellflower St. John Bosco (2-0) and Los Angeles Loyola (2-0). The first two weeks of the prep football season has seen them crush opponents.
St. John Bosco’s latest win was 67-7 over Norwalk on Friday night. It was 46-0 at halftime. Quarterback Quentin Davis was 12 of 14 passing for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Last week, the Braves defeated La Mirada, 76-8.
Loyola defeated Palmdale Highland, 45-7. Kelly Blake had a sack, fumble recovery and two tackles for losses. Last week, the Cubs defeated Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 34-0.
Asked what his team gets out of games against a weaker opponent, Loyola Coach Marvin Sanders said, “You get tons out of it. It doesn’t make a difference as a coach because you’re trying to judge your team on how they are executing.”
St. John Bosco and Loyola will finally get competition Friday night. The Braves travel to Portland, Ore., to face one of the state’s best teams, Central Catholic (0-1), on ESPNU. Loyola will travel to San Diego to take on St. Augustine (2-0).
Offering praise
St. John Bosco Coach Jason Negro praised Norwalk Coach Otis Harrison and La Mirada Coach Mike Moschetti for scheduling the Braves.
“I want to give credit to those guys,” he said. “It is a dying breed of guys that will play opponents above their skill level. We have a pretty good team with a lot of experience, and that’s what caught both of those teams.”
La Mirada came back from its St. John Bosco loss to defeat Covina Charter Oak, 35-14. Quarterback Tevaka Tuioti passed for two touchdowns and ran for another.
Moschetti said he had no regrets playing St. John Bosco.
“I’m a big believer in trying to play the best teams possible to prepare these kids for the CIF playoffs,” he said. “The game humbled us. I thought going in we were a little arrogant. We don’t play the game to have our butts kicked, but a game like that you get more out of it than playing a team that’s not very good and winning, 65-0. We came back with renewed focus.”
Top performances
Quarterbacks Max Gilliam of Thousand Oaks and Tristan Gebbia of Calabasas each passed for seven touchdowns in wins over Canyon Country Canyon and Burbank Burroughs, respectively.
Quarterback Mique Juarez of North Torrance accounted for six touchdowns in a 40-14 win over Peninsula. La Cañada St. Francis had 11 sacks in a 36-24 win over West Covina.
Twitter: LATSondheimer
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