Corona Centennial Routs Norco, 37-6

Corona Centennial and Norco played king of the mountain on Friday.

Actually, they played king of the Mountain View League.

Wasting no time establishing the league’s pecking order for the Southern Section Division V playoffs five weeks from now, host Centennial, ranked No. 20 in the Southland by The Times, defeated No. 12 Norco, 37-6, behind an increasingly impressive sophomore quarterback, a tough running back and a stingy defense.

In his third game as a starter, Chris Scott completed 12 of 18 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown -- a deftly thrown pass to the back of the end zone snagged by Normando Mariscal with eight seconds left in the first half that gave the Huskies a 16-0 lead.

Set up by a 23-yard punt return by Landon Black, the two-play, 12-second, 27-yard drive was huge because Norco’s Kyle Legere accounted for all 54 yards on the Cougars’ opening drive of the third quarter that made it 16-6.

Brandon Minor rushed 28 times for 181 yards and three second-half touchdowns for Centennial (5-1 overall, 1-0 in league). He answered Norco’s touchdown with scoring runs of one, 20 and 13 yards on successive possessions.

Defensively, any performance against Norco (5-1, 0-1) involves having to contain running back Toby Gerhart, who sprained his ankle during Tuesday’s practice.

He stayed off it the rest of the week, but after gaining 14 yards on his first carry, he was a non-factor. He played only the first 15 minutes, carrying seven times for 16 yards.

After holding Norco at the 14, Centennial drove 82 yards on its first possession, ending when Dashan Miller recovered Minor’s fumble in the end zone.

Martin Henderson

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Los Angeles Loyola 17, La Puente Bishop Amat 14 -- One week after suffering a stunning last-second loss to Newhall Hart, Loyola used a relentless running game to build a 17-point halftime lead before fighting off a furious comeback by Bishop Amat in a Serra League opener at Pierce College.

Bishop Amat (3-3, 0-1) pulled to within three points on Daniel Robles’ seven-yard pass to tailback William Wagner with 55 seconds left.

The Lancers’ Andrew Gamez recovered the onside kick, but Loyola linebacker George Hypolite got a sack of Robles on third down to stop the rally.

Quarterback Casey Frost ran for 91 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Cubs (5-1, 1-0) got all but 15 of their 290 total yards on the ground. Trason Bragg rushed for a game-high 110 yards and Russell Oka added 68.

After Thomas Weber gave Loyola a 3-0 lead with a 44-yard field goal in the first quarter, Frost sparked the Cubs on a fourth-down option play, keeping the ball and scoring on a 32-yard run.

Frost added a two-yard touchdown in the second quarter.

Loyola’s defense, which had costly late breakdowns against Hart in the Cubs’ 17-16 defeat, made big plays to stymie the error-plagued Lancers at the end of long drives.

Cornerback Matt Appenfelder made an interception in the end zone in the first half and linebacker Brian Rey recovered a fumble by Wagner on the Loyola two early in the fourth quarter.

Bishop Amat scored with 6:09 left on a 26-yard pass play from Robles to Gamez.

-- Eric Stephens