Loyola hands Valencia its first loss

Jared Baker rushed for 240 yards and four touchdowns in 20 carries as visiting Los Angeles Loyola upset Valencia, 39-24, on Friday night.

Baker’s final touchdown, a 56-yard run after a fumble recovery with 3:28 left in the fourth quarter, sealed the Cubs’ win. The Vikings (4-1), ranked No. 13 by The Times, suffered their first loss of the season.

“Valencia came into this game with all the momentum,” Baker said. “No one gave us a chance. We came out fired up. We were confident and we wanted to prove we could hang with some of the best teams out there.”

Trailing by eight points, Valencia flexed its muscles on a late drive, but quarterback Alex Bishop, who had two passes intercepted, took too much time while looking downfield for a receiver and was hit by defensive lineman John Basadre, who forced and recovered a fumble.

Baker then ran for his final touchdown on the next play. His also scored on runs of four, 53 and 14 yards.

Valencia got little from its touted offense. Steven Manfro, who entered the game averaging 270 yards of offense, rushing and receiving, couldn’t get free in the first half.

Bishop finished 21 for 34 for 321 yards, with one touchdown pass and two interceptions.

Andrew Magana went six for nine for 41 yards for Loyola (3-3).

A scary moment occurred midway through the fourth quarter when Valencia linebacker Trevor Smyth was injured on a running play.

He lay on the field for several minutes before being taken off on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. School officials said he suffered a stinger and was feeling numb.

— Baxter Holmes

Crespi beats Taft in a shootout, 53-47

Kenny Stenhouse completed 17 of 23 passes for 364 yards and a school-record six touchdowns as host Encino Crespi, ranked No. 23 by The Times, held off Woodland Hills Taft.

The Toreadors (2-3) pulled to within six points with 1:22 remaining on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Michael Bercovici to Miles Johnson, but Chris Harper recovered the ensuing onside kick for Crespi and the Celts (5-1) picked up a first down to run out the clock.

Stenhouse, who had one pass intercepted, increased his season totals to 1,730 yards, 20 touchdowns and four interceptions. Devin Lucien had six receptions for 188 yards and three touchdowns, Michael Davison had six catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns and Harper added three catches for 32 yards, including a nine-yard scoring grab that gave the Celts a 53-40 lead with 2:52 left.

“Stenhouse is doing great for us,” Lucien said. “He’s putting the ball where it needs to be and he’s a great, great quarterback.”

Rhasheed Johnson rushed for 55 yards in six carries for Crespi, including a 13-yard run that tied the score, 13-13, with 3:47 left in the first quarter.

Bercovici completed 32 of 50 passes for 431 yards, five touchdowns and one interception. Kenny Thompson had 170 yards and two touchdowns in 25 carries and caught a 22-yard touchdown pass on Taft’s first drive of the game. Michael Thomas had nine catches for 130 yards and three touchdowns, Jonathan Major caught seven passes for 127 yards and Johnson had six receptions for 100 yards for the Toreadors, who trailed, 32-20, at halftime.

Taft pulled to within 39-34 on Bercovici’s 13-yard pass to Thomas on the first play of the fourth quarter, but Crespi extended its lead back to 12 less than two minutes later on a 22-yard pass play from Stenhouse to Davison.

The teams combined for 1,073 yards of offense and 15 touchdowns. Taft finished with 622 yards (431 passing and 191 rushing) and Crespi gained 451 yards (364 passing and 87 rushing).

The only punt of the game was blocked by Crespi defensive lineman Reggie Coates at Taft’s three-yard line, setting up a touchdown run by M. Ajani Shanks for the Celts, who scored 19 unanswered points in a span of less than eight and a half minutes to turn a seven-point deficit into a 12-point lead in the second quarter.

Bercovici, who has committed to Arizona State, now has 1,530 yards, 13 touchdowns and five interceptions this season.

The Celts drove 43 yards in six plays on their first possession of the second half before a Stenhouse pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Dimitray Lewis at Taft’s 15-yard line. The Toreadors proceeded to march 85 yards in 10 plays, scoring on Thompson’s one-yard plunge that brought Taft within five points, 32-27, with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

However, Crespi needed only 26 seconds to answer on Stenhouse’s 11-yard toss to Davison.

Taft moved the ball to midfield in the final seconds of the first half, but defensive back Charles Washington intercepted a desperation pass by Bercovici and was shoved out of bounds at the Crespi 15-yard line as time expired.

— Steve Galluzzo