DOWNEY – St. Pius X – St. Matthias Academy couldn’t overcome numerous second-half mistakes, penalties and an aggressive Trabuco Hills defense in a 23-19 home loss on Friday night.
The Warriors (0-3) gave themselves a chance to win this game after a face-masking penalty against the Mustangs during a punt attempt gave them a first down with 5:42 left in the fourth quarter. However, the Trabuco Hills defense made some big plays including two huge sacks on junior quarterback Jassi Williams and kept St. Pius from putting together a potential game-winning drive.
The Mustangs (2-0) took over on downs and secured a few significant first downs to maintain possession and run out the clock on the Warriors.
They scored the final nine points of this game with the go-ahead touchdown coming in the early seconds of the fourth quarter when quarterback Tristan Zale scrambled out of the pocket and connected with receiver Alex Kiernan for an 11-yard touchdown reception giving Trabuco Hills a 23-19 lead, which would be all they would need to hold off St. Pius.
The Warriors shook off a slow start and rallied from an early deficit with the help of some explosive plays from Williams and his receivers. He found junior receiver Chris Blakely for a 35-yard touchdown reception in the final seconds of the first half to cut the Mustangs lead to one at 14-13 going into halftime.
Then in the opening minutes of the third quarter, Williams connected with junior receiver Jaylen Stokes who exploded for a 73-yard touchdown to give St. Pius a 19-14 lead.
Williams finished with 191 passing yards completing 15 of his 23 pass attempts with two touchdowns and one interception. He was also under pressure the whole game getting sacked six times, one of which led to a safety for the Mustangs in the second half.
St. Pius X quarterback Jassi Williams @Getpaid_J talks about the loss, what changed in the second half, and finding the positives within the game despite the loss to Trabuco Hills @PMA_Football @BeachVarsity @SoCalVarsity pic.twitter.com/D3yg8xL7Ff
— Chris Camello (@Chris_Camello) September 7, 2024
Williams spoke about the changed mindset his team had in the second half and how the game got away from the Warriors.
“We thought we won the game at halftime,” Williams said. “(There’s) a lot that has to go into the second half. You can’t really put too much thought into the second half, you have to go out there and play the game. I feel like if we would’ve thought we never won the game at halftime, we would’ve come out here stronger.”
St. Pius head coach Devah Thomas heaped praise on his quarterback believing he is mature and has a very high ceiling.
St. Pius X – St. Matthias coach @YUNG_GURU_ talks about the tough loss for Warriors, what went wrong in the second half, and the progression of young quarterback Jassi Williams @SoCalVarsity @PMA_Football @BeachVarsity pic.twitter.com/2L4ZKEzYCF
— Chris Camello (@Chris_Camello) September 7, 2024
“Jassi is just getting better every week,” Thomas said. “He’s big in the film room, he’s making the right throws, the right reads, he’s making great plays. The kid is going to be phenomenal for us.”
Despite some impressive offensive plays, it was the little things that really hurt the Warriors. They missed a point after attempt after running back Mack Theus scored a first quarter touchdown and couldn’t convert on a two-point attempt after the Stokes touchdown in the third.
There were also numerous penalties and other mistakes that halted some of their offensive drives and gave Trabuco Hills momentum and more opportunities to take advantage of them.
Despite an 0-3 start, Thomas believes the mistakes are correctable with his team being young and inexperienced but is hopeful they can improve from this.
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“We beat ourselves, just mental mistakes, we’re still young, we’re still finding our identity,” Thomas said. “We’re going to eventually get better. It’s the first half of the season, so we’ll get the mistakes out now, we’ll come together and become a great football team.”
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