It was a rough night for the Bishop Diego football team, as the shorthanded Cardinals were outpaced 50-34 by the Lancaster Eagles on Thursday night at La Playa Stadium.
The Cardinals (2-1) were missing several key players in Thursday’s contest, including junior running back/linebacker Sammy Boeddeker, junior running back/linebacker D’Marzy Siaosa, senior tight end/defensive lineman Jeremiah Mercier and senior wide receiver/defensive back Mavaeaga Luvu.
Senior wide receiver Remi Boykin was also lost early in the game.
“We were thin because of guys being out going into the game a little bit, and we had tried to make some adjustments. There’s a bit of a domino effect and it’s exacerbated when you are asking a lot of these guys to play so much on both sides,” Bishop Diego head coach Tom Crawford said.
Asked when he expects some of the kids back on the field, Crawford said each player is at a different stage of recovery, so there is no timetable for many of them.
“It would certainly help us if we could get some of those guys back,” he said.
With the win, Lancaster improved to 2-1 on the season and avenged last season’s 42-40 loss against Bishop Diego.
Coming into the contest, Eagles junior wide receiver Terrance Harper was the man to watch, averaging 143 yards through the first two weeks on 19 total catches. The junior proceeded to have his best game of the season, going off for four touchdowns and 164 yards on seven catches.
Lancaster Head Coach Jermaine Lewis said that with this current three-game stretch, Harper is “probably one of the top receivers in California.
“We don’t get a lot of publicity out there in the area we’re from, but he’s one guy right now that a lot of colleges, recruiters,and all those rating systems need to take note of. He’s definitely a star, and he might have a record-breaking season this year,” he said.
On top of being unable to stop Harper, the Cardinals were also unable to stop the Eagles’ quick pace of play. All night, Lancaster ran a hurry-up, spread offense, leading to a tired Bishop Diego defense and one that the visiting team was able to gash. Four of the six touchdowns scored by Lancaster on Thursday were over 40 yards.
“Their scheme is designed to put you in conflict by spreading you out on the run game and creating alleys for guys to run, and in order to try to handle that, you end up having to commit guys in the secondary to look for keys that will allow them to trigger, and we didn’t do a great job of actually reading and reacting,” Crawford said. “It’s a very difficult scheme to defend.”
Lewis said his offense, run by assistant coach Chris Hinton, was built over years.
“If you ever come to one of our practices, it’s nonstop. It’s just go, go, go, go, go and that’s also why our defense and stuff was built for that. That’s what we just take pride in,” he said.
Lancaster got on the board early as senior quarterback Aidan Howell connected with Harper on a 24-yard catch and score. After forcing a punt, the Eagles responded with a 13-play drive that took just three minutes and was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run on fourth and goal.
Despite the lopsided score, the Cardinals did have some big plays of their own Thursday night.
Sophomore quarterback Kaleo Satele connected with his senior wideout Boykin on a 38-yard score that brought the Cardinals back to within seven.
As was the case all night, however, the Eagles responded with a 60-yard touchdown catch by senior wide receiver Ethen Hutcherson. After a Harper touchdown put Lancaster up 28-7, Bishop Diego responded with a 43-yard touchdown run from senior running back Nate Hernandez to cut the lead to 28-13.
Hernandez was the team’s leading rusher, gaining 74 yards on seven carries to go along with two scores.
Harper and Hernandez each traded touchdowns before the end of the half to make the score 36- 21 at the break.
After a quiet third quarter, Lancaster scored a short touchdown run to take a commanding 44-21 lead with 11 minutes to go.
Satele was not quite finished, however, finding junior Joel Sanchez on a 19-yard touchdown pass to try to keep his team in it. Satele finished the night going 6-for-12 for 129 yards and two touchdown tosses, as well as 33 yards on the ground with seven carries.
After cutting the deficit to 17, however, Harper put the nail in the coffin, taking a slant 52 yards on the very first play to put his team up 51-27.
The Cardinals would score a touchdown on the final play of the game courtesy of senior running back Connor Boyd, who plowed in a one-yard run after Bishop’s Ailao Faumui forced a fumble that was recovered by Max Neels, who took it about 50 yards to be near the goal line.
“As we go forward, hopefully we learn from it and recognize that we’ve got to get better and make adjustments,” Crawford said. “Fortunately, it was game three, not game nine.”
Bishop Diego will host St. Francis next Friday at 7 p.m. at La Playa Stadium.