AJ Luke, Cabrillo’s head coach, is an impressive man. He is unfailingly upbeat, even after losses. Even after really big losses, losses like Cabrillo’s 64-6 game against St John Bosco in Bellflower on Friday night. The final score doesn’t even represent how lopsided the game was—it was 43 to nothing at halftime with Bosco gaining 363 yards of total offense. And in the second half, were it not for two Bosco fumbles in the red zone (including one in the end zone) the final score could have been even worse.
But even after such a lopsided game, Coach Luke said, “We can’t start feeling sorry for ourselves,” and immediately went right into the positives to take away. “We found the heartbeat of our team,” he said, referring to senior Kyle Marshall who scored Cabrillo’s only touchdown, and Roman Lewis, who in addition to playing wide receiver also lined up under center for a few drives.
St John Bosco, coming off a 34-0 win over Damien last week, was too strong right from the beginning, winning the toss and marching 80 yards down the field to open the game. Bosco then ran one of their many trick plays to complete a 2-point conversion and the rout was on. Keith Price, Bosco’s QB and U of Washington recruit, went 4 for 4 on the drive for 44 yards and added another 16 yards on the ground. After a Cabrillo 3-and-out, Bosco got the ball back with great field position and scored again with 5 runs for a total of 52 yards, to make it 15-0. Next possession, Cabrillo went 3-and-out and punted; Bosco received the ball at midfield and scored again on a 30 yard pass from Keith Price to receiver Taylor Sparks, making the score 22-0. Another Cabrillo 3-and-out drive led to more great field position for Bosco, and a 41-yard touchdown pass from Keith Price to Will Shamburger, making it 29-0. And that was just the first quarter.
The second quarter, of course, was more of the same. A Cabrillo punt and a Bosco completion from Keith Price to Will Shamburger, this time for 40 yards to raise the score to 36-0. Cabrillo’s next possession was the first time all night that they moved the ball. A completion from QB John Rubio to star receiver Roman Lewis halfway through the 2nd quarter was the first completion and first 1st down of the game for the Jaguars. The drive ultimately got Cabrillo to first and goal at Bosco’s ten, but then their youth and inexperience got the best of them. Three straight tackles in the backfield and then a penalty (one of nine on Cabrillo in the first half alone) led the Jaguars to face a 4th and goal from the 24. They didn’t convert, and Bosco got 76 yards, a touchdown, and a 43 to nothing lead at the half.
At halftime, down big, Coach Luke had a very clear idea of what he was looking for in the second half: “Heart. Sometimes it’s better than a win.” And late in that second half, down 64 to nothing, Cabrillo was still running hard and blocking hard, leading to Kyle Marshall’s 52-yard touchdown run with just a few seconds left in the 4th quarter.
Tomorrow, both Bosco coach Kiki Mendoza and Coach Luke will break down the tape from this game. Despite a strong performance, Coach Mendoza feels there will be plenty to focus on. “We won’t accept anything in victory that we wouldn’t accept in defeat,” he said. But Coach Luke has a different task when looking at the tape: “It can’t be a beat down session.”
After the game one of his players came up to say good night to his coach, and Luke said to him, “It’s going to get better.” The player said “Yeah, coach,” and Luke, sensing that he didn’t believe it, said again, “It’s going to get better.” The player stopped, looked at his coach, and said, “Yes, it will.” That time he sounded like he believed it.
When a team is doing poorly, it’s often the coach that gets blamed. But Coach Luke knows that when his team is doing poorly, that’s when he’s needed most.