Pacifica Sets Tone Early, Tops San Dimas

On the first play of the game, Pacifica’s Keith Townsend broke into the San Dimas backfield uncontested and planted Saint quarterback Jesse Anderson on his back.

Had the Saints known it wouldn’t get any better in the 39 plays that followed, perhaps they might have just called it a season and allowed the teams to retire to their respective pizza parlors a couple hours sooner.

San Dimas played on, however, enduring fumbles, interceptions, four more sacks and numerous injuries en route to a 31-6 thrashing by Pacifica in their Southern Section Division IX first-round playoff game Friday night at Bolsa Grande High.

“The tone was set with that first sack,” Pacifica Coach Bill Craven said. “They knew right off we were going to come at them.”

The Mariners’ defense was beyond stifling, holding San Dimas (6-5) to a net total of 38 yards on offense and only five first downs. Anderson completed six of 18 passes for 16 yards and the Saints’ two most talented offensive players, D.J. Hackett and Roosevelt Hackett, only touched the ball four times for 24 yards.

“Their quarterback had thrown for 1,900 yards, so we were real concerned with that,” Craven said. “Our plan was to put pressure on him and distract those receivers at the line of scrimmage.”

After charging to a 24-0 lead with 5 minutes 47 seconds remaining in the half, Pacifica (8-3) suddenly slipped out of sync on offense. That left Hackett feeling a bit concerned about next week’s matchup with Western, which defeated Sunny Hills, 28-19, Thursday night.

“It was like somebody put water in our tank all of a sudden,” he said. “We can’t do that against Western, that’s for sure. They’re going to pound the ball on us real well as it is. We can’t do that again.”

Brett Stern rushed for 89 yards and three touchdowns for the Mariners. Jason Simpson caught two passes, tying him for the school record for single-season receptions with 53.