Crean Lutheran’s Caleb Bey breaks away for a touchdown Friday night. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano).
Another stellar performance by highly-heralded junior quarterback Caden Jones led Crean Lutheran to a 56-21 Epsilon League victory over defending champion La Habra Friday night on homecoming for the Saints.
Jones completed 19 of 22 passes for 321 yards and five touchdowns to help the Saints (8-0, 3-0) remain tied with Huntington Beach (7-1, 3-0) for the league lead.
Crean Lutheran hosts Huntington Beach Friday in a game that will most likely decide the league title.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone
“I think it’s a great win,” said Jones, who added he has about 50 college offers. “Our biggest thing offensively was just keep our momentum, we’ve been starting slow, but I think we really picked it up this game. We really focused on playing through all four quarters and I think we did that, we scored in every quarter.
“I’m proud of my boys and we just got to get back to work and Huntington (Beach) is on the clock. We have a great receiving corps, but couldn’t do it without the line, the line is blocking their butt off. I’m proud of our receivers, they’re executing really well and we’re running all of our plays. We have deep playbook, they’re doing the job, that’s all the matters.”
Ty Johnson hauled in six catches for 120 yards and two touchdowns and Bryce Coleman had six catches and two touchdowns for 130 yards for Crean Lutheran.
La Habra (5-2, 1-2) was led by quarterback DJ Mitchell who passed for 233 yards and two touchdowns. He was constantly pressured by the Crean Lutheran defense, which had five sacks.
Blake Rogers hauled in five catches for 115 yards for the Highlanders.
The victory was special for Crean Lutheran which avenged a 15-13 loss to La Habra last season that helped the Highlanders clinch the league title.
“Last year was a tough one, we lost by two, it was a great game but they pulled it out, it was their homecoming, I’ve gone against Frank (Coach Mazzotta), it’s always a good, clean game but it feels good to beat them,” said Crean Lutheran Coach Rick Curtis. “They’ve won so many titles and league championships, they’re a solid program year in and year out so it feels special to me to beat a program like that.”
Crean Lutheran struck first when Jones connected with Johnson on a 44-yard TD pass at the end of the first quarter.
On La Habra’s next possession, Johnson intercepted a pass and returned the ball 30 yards for a score to put the Saints ahead 14-0.
Bobby Brooks scored from 15 yards out later in the quarter for La Habra to cut the lead to 14-7 but Jones countered with TD passes to Johnson (42 yards) and Dillon Booth (10 yards) to put the Saints ahead 28-7.
Mitchell hit Barrett Blied on an 14-yard TD pass to cut Crean Lutheran’s lead to 28-14 at halftime.
But in the second half, Caleb Bey had TD runs of 10 and 47 yards and Jones threw two TD passes to Coleman to break it open for Crean Lutheran.
A 58-yard TD pass from Jones to Coleman with 8:25 left in the game put Crean Lutheran ahead 56-21.
Mitchell hit Bryce Vasquez on a 20-yard TD score for the Highlanders only score of the second half.
Crean Lutheran was able to move the ball at will despite being penalized for more than 100 yards in the first half. The Saints were penalized for about 190 yards in the game.
“Offensively, we did really well, defensively we just had the penalties and extended their drives,” said Curtis. “That’s an area we really have to clean up. It was a big game, and I think a lot of that is that we were just over-amped, excited for the game and playing hard. But we have to make sure we don’t extend people’s drives and give them yardage and give them a short field.
“I thought offensively we were on fire. Caden with over 300 yards and five touchdown passes, Caleb Bey came in and did a great job with a big touchdown run, and our offensive line did an awesome job. I’m so proud of my coordinators, Russ Oka, our offensive coordinator, is an offensive genous and our defensive coordinator John Byszewski has done a super job all year and our special teams has been pretty special. Jake Fey is running those special teams, so I’m blessed and obviously the support we get here is fantastic, great crowd, you to win the homecoming game, right?”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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