Trey Littlejohn of Northwood extends for yards after making a catch Thursday. (Photo Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)
Northwood’s football team dominated from start to finish notching its second consecutive shutout Thursday night.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
But Coach Paige Nobles said he believes there is definitely room for improvement after seeing his squad defeat Bolsa Grande 34-0 at Bolsa Grande.
“The score didn’t reflect really how we played,” Nobles said. “Discipline wise, we lacked a lot of discipline tonight. There were a lot of mental mistakes that we shouldn’t have made. Practice this week was horrible and …. you play the way you practice.”
Northwood had a couple turnovers and Nobles said there were some poor decisions on offensive routes and “our line didn’t block as well as it should.”
“I give respect to Coach (Alfredo, Bolsa Grande Coach) Silva,” Nobles said. “He works with a team that is not at the level we’re at. It’s not really a good gage of where I should gage my players. I’m still proud of them, I’ll take the W, a W is a W. But discipline wise, it should have been a lot better. Back to the drawing board for Cerritos.”
Northwood quarterback Jaden Piazza led the offense completing 14 of 21 passes for 159 yards and four touchdowns. He hooked up with Trey Littlejohn on three of them, 7 and 32-yard TD passes in the first half and an 8-yard TD pass in the fourth quarter.
Piazza also connected with Travis Arena on a 30-yard TD pass in the second quarter. Northwood’s Max Tait accounted for the other score on a 37-yard interception return in the second quarter to put Northwood ahead 27-0.
Northwood (3-1) frustrated Bolsa Grande (1-3) all night on defense, allowing just 47 yards passing and less than 20 yards on the ground and forcing four turnovers. Thomas Nihipali hauled in five catches for 21 yards and Toan Nguyen picked up 18 yards rushing.
“It was definitely one of our better defensive games,” said lineman Xavier Cousar. “We kind of set the tone early that we’re not going to let them get any yardage, we were going to bring the pressure to them every play. As you could see, they started to wear down and started to run the ball a lot more. I’m definitely proud of our other D-linemen and our other corners. When they started doubling me, that gave others an opportunity to make the play.”
Littlejohn wound up with seven catches for 65 yards while Arena had six catches for 68 yards. Northwood also got a strong effort from Daniel Kim, who rushed for 48 yards on 10 carries.
“I’m happy with the W, I’m happy with the way my players preserved the shutout, but discipline wise, I want them to play a little cleaner football,” Nobles said.
RELATED: Pre-game Northwood vs. Bolsa Grande pictures
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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