Parting notes from St. Bonny-Oaks Christian clash

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Sure, he was pleased with the final result of the so-called ‘revenge game’, but you could tell St. Bonaventure Coach Todd Therrien was a little miffed by the way Oaks Christian almost came back from what was, at one point, a 34-7 deficit.

“There was really no excuse for that,” Therrien said. “We need to play from start to finish and we didn’t. They’ve got a streak on the line, so we knew they weren’t going to go down easy...We let them off the hook on third and long too many times.”

I agree the second half could have gone better for the Seraphs, but maybe that’s because I was blinded by St. Bonny’s spectacular first-half performance. A 23-yard reception by WR Casey Serna set up the first of five TDs on the night for Darrell Scott less than four minutes into the game and an interception by DB Patrick Hall on Oaks Christian’s first possession set up a one-yard TD by Tony Macarena.

From there, it was amazing how the Seraphs just kept scoring TDs against a team that is a four-time defending division champion and had a Southern Section-record 48-game winning streak on the line.

“We played smart and we did what we needed to do,” said Hall, who also had a fumble recovery.

Still, something has to be said for how impressive Oaks Christian looked in the second half, particularly Chris Potter, who proved unequivocally that he is one of the best QBs in Southern California. I know he’s had previous experience at QB, but I still find it crazy that a guy who had started as a wide receiver the last three years can be so good.

Last night, he completed a school-record 12 consecutive passes and finished the game connecting on 20 of 25 for 306 yards and two TDs. Half of his completions went to WR Chris Owusu.

“We talked about pride and what it is to play Oaks Christian football,” Oaks Christian Coach Bill Redell said, describing his coaching staff’s halftime speech to the players. “I’m very proud of how we played and fought tonight.”

- Austin Knoblauch