COSTA MESA – Quaid Carr rushed for two touchdowns and returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown in Servite’s 33-14 win over St. Paul on Friday in a nonleague football game at Orange Coast College.
Carr, a senior who committed to San Diego State, rushed for 79 yards on 14 carries.
Servite, No. 5 in the Orange County Top 25, is 5-0 going into its Trinity League opener on Friday, Oct. 4, against No. 3 JSerra at JSerra High.
St. Paul (2-3) will play its Angelus League opener on Friday, Oct. 4, at St. Francis.
The Friars played again without senior quarterback Leo Hannan. The Michigan State commit did not play in Servite’s previous game, a 38-17 win over Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, because of a leg injury.
Colin O’Connor was Servite’s starting quarterback for the second game in a row. On Friday he completed 5 of 12 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown. After a 2-for-7 first half, O’Connor completed 3 of 5 passes, including his TD pass, in the second half for 76 yards.
Servite’s Gavin Gutierrez returned the opening kickoff 63 yards to the St. Paul 22-yard line. Three plays later Carr took a lateral and found open space to the left for a 12-yard touchdown run for a 7-0 Friars lead.
Servite made it 14-0 on its second possession. Carr raced around the left end for a 20-yard touchdown run.
St. Paul had only two first-half possessions. The first one stopped at midfield where the Swordsmen punted. The second was a 14-play drive that started at their 25 and ended on an end zone interception by Servite’s Adrian Martinez.
After a scoreless second quarter Servite took a 14-0 lead into halftime.
Servite pushed the lead to 21-0 on a 13-yard touchdown pass from O’Connor to Sorensen midway through the third quarter.
St. Paul scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Quarterback Gabriel Castaneda floated a long pass to Kenneth Marshall for a 45-yard touchdown play.
Carr then scored on his 97-yard kickoff return. Playing shallow, Carr went back to catch the ball at the 3-yard line, found a lane at the 15 and from there Carr, who outsprinted defenders along the left sideline for the touchdown (he ran a personal-best 10.74 in the 100 this past track and field season). The point-after kick missed, leaving the Friars with a 27-7 lead.
St. Paul’s second touchdown was a 41-yard run by Matthew Sotelo. On second down at the Servite 41, Sotelo was stopped and surrounded just beyond the line of scrimmage, somehow escaped and ran unchallenged the rest of the way.
Gutierrez scored on the game’s final play, a 27-yard touchdown run to create the final 33-14 score.
St.Paul running back Marley Luatua rushed for 81 yards on 22 carries.
The Friars defense was outstanding much of the night. Two back-to-back plays in the third quarter were especially spectacular for the Servite defense. Servite linebacker Kaleb Aiava blasted into St. Paul running back Marley Luatua just after Luatua took the handoff, driving Luatua back for a 3-yard loss. On the next play Servite defensive lineman Etimoni Kailahi took down St. Paul receiver Daniel Castaneda at the moment Castaneda pulled in a screen pass for another 3-yard loss.
