Lavin Leads Chaminade Past Bell-Jeff

Chaminade High pushed and shoved Bell-Jeff all over the field at Pierce College on Saturday night and bulldozed its way to a 38-0 Santa Fe League victory.

When Coach Rich Lawson’s team had finished shoving, Bell-Jeff--along with the other five teams in the league--had been all but removed from the Eagles’ path to the league championship. Chaminade (5-2, 4-0) appears certain to become league champion in Lawson’s first year as coach.

“We still have two more games,” Lawson cautioned.

If Chaminade continues its bruising style of play, it should not matter how many games the Eagles must play. Chaminade thoroughly dominated previously unbeaten Bell-Jeff, holding the Guards to 92 yards in total offense.

The Eagles, led by tailback Tim Lavin’s game-high 117 yards on 14 carries, rolled up 370 yards in total offense.

“We expected them to be a lot tougher,” Lavin said. “But no one can stop us now. We’ve proved a lot to ourselves this season.”

Chaminade, which whipped Salesian, 47-0, last week, has not allowed a point in 10 quarters.

“I’m really happy,” Lawson said. “There’s an awful lot of emotion with this team.”

Chaminade, which led at halftime, 24-0, put the game out of reach when Jonas Escalera returned the second half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. Although the touchdown gave Chaminade a 30-0 lead, Lawson elected to go for two points and the successful conversion made it 32-0.

Chris Noonan added field goals of 23 and 29 yards to complete the scoring.