Servite Tunes Up for No. 1 With Win Over La Quinta

Servite High School built a 24-0 first-half lead then withstood a La Quinta rally to take a 31-14 nonleague victory Thursday in front of 3,000 in Hanford Rants Stadium at Cerritos.

Servite Coach Leo Hand saw promise in the play of the Friars (4-1), who will open Angelus League play next week against Bishop Amat, ranked No. 1 in Big Five Conference.

“In past games we’ve been sloppy, but tonight, other than some mistakes, I thought we played a better game,” Hand said. Servite had to rally to beat Fountain Valley, 14-10, last week.

Servite had flashes of brilliance, led primarily by its defensive line. The Friars sacked La Quinta’s Derek Debbs seven times and forced him out of the pocket at least another half dozen. Defensive end Mike Petko sacked Debbs four times.

After a poor start, Debbs “caught fire,” according to La Quinta Coach Roger Takahashi, and finished the game with 259 yards passing.

Debbs made two of his first seven passes, then connected on 14 of 23. He threw for a touchdown and scored another on a two-yard plunge.

La Quinta is 2-3.

Servite mounted the 24-0 lead on a 43-yard run by Derek Brown with 4:36 left in the first period, a seven-yard run by quarterback Jason Messersmith on the first play of the second quarter, a 42-yard scamper by Eddie Brown five minutes later and a 40-yard field goal by Pat Blottiaux with 1:24 to go.

La Quinta cut the lead to 10 points on a 14-yard pass by Debbs to Alan Stevenson with 1:24 left in the half, and on Debbs’ run, which capped a 10-yard drive at the 8:31 of the third quarter.

Derek Brown scored Servite’s last touchdown on 25-yard run in the fourth quarter.