San Fernando Wins Air Battle, 36-33

A high school quarterback who completes 25 of 41 passes for 337 yards and five touchdowns should expect a victory.

But those productive statistics belonged to Kennedy High’s Ruben Zaragoza, the losing quarterback.

There was an air show going on Friday night--in a City Section game, no less.

Stealing the show and the game was San Fernando’s Thomas Hoohuli, who rallied the Tigers from a 19-point deficit to claim a 36-33 victory in a Valley Mission League opener in front of a capacity crowd at Kennedy.

The San Fernando quarterback with the funny last name felt like doing a hula dance after completing 17 of 35 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns, the last one a 15-yard scoring strike to Jose Montes to give the Tigers their biggest lead, 36-26, with 4:04 remaining.

“I love this game,” Hoohuli said afterward.

San Fernando (6-0) trailed, 19-0, midway through the second quarter but the deficit seemed to stoke its offense just before the break.

After scoring on their last two possessions of the first half to pull within 19-14, the Tigers benefited from a rejuvenated effort in the second half by running back Bobby Stanley, who had zero yards in his first seven carries.

Stanley, who said he was suffering from the effects of asthma in the first quarter, looked like a different runner in the second half. He finished with 89 yards in 25 carries and scored on runs of two and eight yards.

But the Tigers turned to Hoohuli after watching the running game stall in their first four possessions.

“Coaches told me in the second quarter that you’re going to start throwing the ball,” Hoohuli said.

San Fernando took to the air after watching Kennedy’s defense concentrate on stopping Stanley, who had rushed for 583 yards in four games.

“They were putting a lot of people in the box,” San Fernando Coach Sean Blunt said. “So you’ve got to give up something to get something.”

San Fernando scored 22 consecutive points and got its first lead, 22-19, on a two-yard run by Stanley with 4:46 left in the third quarter.

Kennedy (3-3), losers of three games in a row, reclaimed the lead early in the fourth quarter, capping a 70-yard, seven-play drive with a four-yard scoring pass from Zaragoza to Paul Holifield to make it 26-22.

After the Tigers reclaimed the lead, 29-26, with an eight-yard touchdown run by Stanley with 7:07 remaining, Stanley made the biggest play of the night defensively.

He picked off a Zaragoza pass on the Golden Cougars’ first play from scrimmage, hauling it in at the Tigers’ 45 and returning it to inside Kennedy’s 30-yard line.

Four Stanley runs helped keep the clock and the Tigers moving, but Hoohuli’s 15-yard strike to Montes sealed the victory with a 10-point cushion.

Kennedy drove 72 yards, but it took 16 plays to get the ball into the end zone, cutting the deficit to three, 36-33, with 13 seconds left.

The Golden Cougars failed to recover an onside kick, and San Fernando ran out the clock to remain unbeaten.

James Norris of Kennedy had nine catches for 153 yards and three touchdowns, giving him 10 touchdowns this season.

Holifield finished with 108 yards on five catches.