Pacifica Gets Defensive, Beats Lions

Rowland Hajnal was late getting to the postgame talk given by his coach, Pacifica’s Bill Craven, so he missed a good part of the dressing down directed at the team.

Craven was upset his offensive players were thinking about themselves, showing more concern about their statistics and personal accomplishments than showing the selflessness needed to go all the way.

But Hajnal wasn’t missing anything that pertained to him. Not on Thursday. He had four quarterback sacks and led a defensive effort that helped Pacifica to its best start in 15 years. The Mariners scored a 24-7 nonleague victory over Westminster in front of about 1,500 at Bolsa Grande High.

Hajnal (pronounced Hy-nal) said it was the game of his life, and it gave Pacifica its first 3-0 start since 1981.

“We just played hard-nosed football,” he said, “and got the job done on defense.”

Hajnal and Co. put the clamp on Westminster’s Sparky Kale, who had 332 yards and a 9.8-yards-per-carry average after two games. Against the Mariners, there was no spark. Kale rushed 17 times for 51 yards and might not have had that if not for rushes of 15, 13 and eight yards.

Pacifica sacked Westminster quarterback Shaun Spradling six times. Hajnal, a 6-foot-1, 235-pound senior, had six tackles for losses. Westminster lost yardage on eight of its 13 first-half running plays.

Westminster (1-2) rushed 28 times for 35 yards, and Spradling completed 12 of 25 passes for 137 yards, but 27 yards rushing and 74 passing came after trailing by 24.

Pacifica jumped to a 17-0 halftime lead on a one-yard run by Verdell LeVeaux (19 carries, 84 yards), a 63-yard pass and run from J.D. Stern (nine for 20, 173 yards) to Darrell Miles, and a 37-yard field goal by Nathan Kolano.

Paul Toepel’s one-yard run made it 24-0 before Westminster’s Spradling, playing defense, intercepted a pass and then completed a 35-yard scoring drive with a 36-yard scoring pass to Chris Brewer.

Craven praised Hajnal, Wes Choate, Jeff Burt and Sean Milligan on the defense.

“They played well, but they do every week,” he said. “Those are the kids who aren’t worried about themselves--the kids in the trenches.”