LA VERNE — For the first four weeks of the season, Damien and quarterback Isaiah Arriaza had picked apart opposing defenses with ease, averaging over 300 yards through the air.
On Friday, the Spartans were unable to find their groove against powerhouse JSerra, a Trinity League school ranked No. 5 in the CIF Southern Section by Calpreps, suffering their second straight loss, losing 49-21
Unlike its previous four games, the Spartans (3-2) didn’t begin to have success offensively until the second half after being held to six points in the first half. Some of the Spartans first-half struggles stemmed from penalties and long third-down situations.
“We’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot a little, (penalties) have been a theme this year,” Damien interim head coach James Stewart said. “We’ve been getting behind the sticks on first down, 1st-and-20, and those types of (situations). We definitely have to get that cleaned up.”
Arriaza was kept in check for much of the night and the Lions made the junior quarterback earn all of his 206 passing yards to go with three touchdowns. All three of his touchdown passes were to sophomore wide receiver Travon Garrison, who finished with eight catches for 96 yards.
Conversely, JSerra’s (5-0) passing game had no issues moving the ball down the field as they scored on four of its first five drives.
The Lions’ first-half success came in large part to junior quarterback Ryan Hopkins. The junior caused most of the damage in the first half where he threw for 146 yards and two touchdowns.
“(Hopkins) does a really good job of understanding the progressions in the offense and understands coverages really well,” JSerra Catholic head football coach Victor Santa Cruz said of his quarterback. “When the opportunity to throw the ball does come up, (Hopkins) does a really good job of seeing the windows.”
With the exception of Damien’s lone first-half scoring drive, a 16-yard touchdown pass by Arriaza early in the first quarter, the Spartans struggled to move the ball was a result of the Lions’ stingy pass defense or unforced errors on key first-half drives. JSerra’s defense held the Spartans to 111 yards of total offense and six first-half points
After back-to-back JSerra touchdowns, a 23-yard run by William Fredericksen and a 16-yard touchdown pass by Hopkins, the Lions’ defense went to work. They extended their lead by capitalizing on an errant throw by Arriaza that was picked off by JSerra star linebacker Madden Faraimo. The Lions linebacker snatched Arriaza’s pass out of the air before returning within the Spartans 30-yard-line.
Two plays laters, Fredericksen gave the Lions a 21-6 lead early in the second quarter with a 10-yard touchdown run.
The JSerra passing game kept churning out chunk plays throughout the first half and managed to march 76 yards and score in under 90 seconds thanks to a 12-yard touchdown pass by Hopkins, giving the Lions a 28-6 lead at half.
Damien overcame some of its offensive woes of the first half, but the three-score advantage was too much to overcome. The Lions maintained their 21-point advantage throughout all of the second half en route to their fifth win of the season, matching last season’s total.
Both the Spartans and Lions will head into a bye week before opening league play with Etiwanda and Servite, respectively.
