High school football: Servite changes tempo, and things are looking up

There’s another football team trying to copy the successful Corona Centennial no-huddle, up-tempo offense. After one game, Anaheim Servite is feeling pretty good.

Former Centennial assistant Mike Bass is Servite’s new offensive coordinator, and the Friars came away with a 35-21 win over Norco on Friday night.

T.J. McMahon, the younger brother of former Santa Ana Mater Dei quarterback and baseball standout Ryan McMahon, passed for 245 yards and two touchdowns as well as ran for 117 yards. Julius Irvin had three interceptions.

“I like it a lot,” McMahon said of the offense. “It fits my style of play. It gives me the option to run.”

Like Centennial, Servite is ingraining the word “tempo” in the minds of its players.

“Tempo is key,” McMahon said. “That’s the one thing we work on every day in practice. We’re going tempo, tempo, tempo.”

Five of the six Trinity League teams won their openers.

As for Centennial, its offense was as explosive as ever in a 63-21 win over Pittsburg. Tanner McKee passed for 315 yards and three touchdowns.

City Section issues: City Section teams went 3-13 in intersectional 11-man games this weekend. Harbor City Narbonne, Garfield and Hamilton were the only winners against Southern Section teams.

Historic freshman moment: Since Los Angeles Loyola began keeping statistics in 1924, there never had been a freshman starter at quarterback — until Friday night.

Freshman Miller Moss was given the chance to start against Fairfax, and he directed a 52-7 victory in the debut of first-year coach Rick Pedroarias.

Rookie success: There were lots of rookie head coaches winning in their debuts.

Taft’s Matt Holly got to celebrate a 17-14 win over Canoga Park when Jonah Mendelsohn made a 30-yard field goal as time expired.

Hawthorne’s Derwin Henderson watched Joe Taylor rush for 257 yards and score three touchdowns in a 50-12 win over La Cañada.

Westlake Village Westlake, in the debut of Tim Kirksey, upset defending state champion Chatsworth Sierra Canyon, 25-7.

Big games this week: There won’t be any bigger games in Southern California than Las Vegas Bishop Gorman playing Mater Dei on Friday at Santa Ana Stadium and Centennial facing Florida IMG Academy on Saturday at San Diego Cathedral.

Individual standouts: EJ Gable, who stands 5 foot 5, scored five touchdowns in Arleta’s 41-6 win over Fremont. Andrew Van Buren rushed for 140 yards and scored three touchdowns in West Hills Chaminade’s 47-10 win over Westlake Village Oaks Christian.

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

Twitter: latsondheimer