Tale of two halves, Jags drop 43-7 decision to Hillcrest
The Northridge Jaguars traveled down Highway 69 to Hillcrest to take on the undefeated Patriots and a Class 5A Region 3 matchup on Friday night. The Jags stood their ground in the first half, giving up a single touchdown and scoring one of their own, to go into the half on even ground with the Patriots tied at 7-7. However, the second half was a different game. The Patriots came out angry and scored two times before the third quarter was halfway over. It didn’t get much better afterward, with the Patriots shutting out the Jags and scoring 36 unanswered points to claim a 43-7 win.
The Patriots drew first blood, but it wasn’t until only 1:19 remained in the first quarter, when they got a touchdown run from inside the Jags’ 10-yard line. The successful point after gave Hillcrest the 7-0 lead.
The Jag defense put up a fight in the second quarter, thwarting two Hillcrest drives. One drive was ended when a snap sailed over the Hillcrest quarterback’s head and the Jags held fast to force a punt. After the Jags turned the ball over on downs, Jaden Wright intercepted a Patriot pass just inside the goal line to prevent Hillcrest from scoring.
Northridge capitalized on the turnover when Max Bruinton connected with Demeriyan Cotton on a route over the middle and Cotton’s catch turned it into a 33-yard touchdown reception. Hicks Finison added the PAT to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:54 to go in the second quarter.
The Patriots threatened to score on their ensuing possession, but Wright recorded his second interception of the half with another interception in the end zone. The half ended with the 7-7 score.
A failed on-side kick to start the second half led to Hillcrest taking the lead two plays later. The successful PAT have the Patriots a 14-7 lead with 11:19 to go in the third quarter. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end.
Hillcrest went on to score 36 unanswered points to claim a 43-7 win.
Offensively, Bruiton completed 11 of 21 passes for 118 yards and one touchdown. Wilder and Julian Crenshaw totaled 48 yards each on three and 10 carries, respectively. Bruinton also collected 33 yards on four carries. Cotton caught nine passes for 66 yards and one touchdown. Dre Young had one reception for 42 yards and Evan Smith had one catch for 10 yards.
Wilder and Wright led the Jags with 10 total tackles each. Wright also had the two interceptions for the Jags. Mitchell McCracken was credited with eight total tackles. Jenkins had seven total tackles. Henderson, Marshall and Crenshaw finished with six tackles each. Christian McLaurin had four tackles with one tackle for loss.
