Friars Strike Hard, Then Grind Out Win Over El Toro

Fifth-ranked Servite has had some classic battles with El Toro, but this wasn’t one of them. The Friars scored 24 second-quarter points on their way to a relatively easy 31-12 victory Saturday night before 2,500 at Cal State Fullerton.

Servite (3-1) started slowly, but Joe Ayers’ 90-yard punt return jump-started the Friars--giving them a 9-0 second-quarter lead. From there, Servite’s ball-control offense took over. The Friars ran most of their offense behind their massive right tackle, Joe McGuire, who pounded helpless El Toro defenders into the ground all night.

“He’s a man in a boys’ uniform,” said El Toro Coach Mike Milner, whose team met Servite three consecutive years in the Southern Section playoffs from 1994-96. “They were what we expected, a big physical, ball-control team.”

Servite took a 16-0 lead on Chad Bystedt’s 36-yard run on a dive play. It capped the half with a five-play, 93-yard drive that ended with an Adam Ernst-to-LeShawn George hitch pass that turned into a 26-yard touchdown play when George juked a cornerback. Ernst’s conversion pass to Frank Magdaleno made it 24-0 at halftime.

El Toro made it respectable by finding some seams in Servite’s secondary. Quarterback Evan Whitaker completed only one of nine for five yards in the first half, but he was eight of 13 for 180 yards and a touchdown in the last two quarters. He found Pat Parry three times for 95 yards, the first time on a 55-yard scoring play for El Toro’s first points.

“Mike Milner’s a good coach and he found a crease in the defense and exploited it,” Servite Coach Larry Toner said.

But there was nothing Milner could do about McGuire, who helped Bystedt bull his way for 118 yards in 14 carries.

“He’s a man-child,” Toner said of McGuire, a 6-foot-6, 290-pound senior. “I haven’t had one like him in 30, 40 years.”

Servite made it 31-12 on Ernst’s second touchdown pass of the night, a 13-yarder on a screen to Magdaleno. El Toro came back to drive 68 yards in nine plays, scoring on a Dan Steinau one-yard plunge.

Ernst finished eight of 13 for 115 yards and two touchdowns.

Servite’s ball-control offense gained 300 total yards and 15 first downs in all.

Servite drove inside the five-yard line late in the game and called two timeouts as the Friars tried to punch it in.

A penalty and a fumble stopped the Servite drive, but Milner was not happy with Servite’s last-ditch scoring effort.

“They had the JV in,” Milner said. “He probably wanted to score. I was willing to give them one of our timeouts if they needed it. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.”

Toner said he was justified in trying to pad a 19-point lead.

“I was trying to give my JV kids some action,” Toner said. “What are you going to do, tell them to fall on the ball?”