Braves roll past Lancers to claim Trinity League
COSTA MESA » Senior quarterback Caleb Sanchez completed 23 of 31 passes for 396 yards, six touchdowns, and one interception as St. John Bosco beat Orange Lutheran 44-22 at Orange Coast College on Friday night.
The Braves (9-1, 5-0) got off to a fast start with three early touchdown passes by Sanchez; 51 yards to Chauncey Sylvester Jr., 5 yards to Cameron Jones, and 31 yards to Daniel Odom.
However, that did not mean they would not be in for a fight against Orange Lutheran (5-5, 2-3) in their quest to win the program's first outright Trinity League title since 2018.
“This was the first goal of ours,” Bosco coach Jason Negro said. “To win this league is something that is quite an accomplishment.
“It's the No. 1 most challenging conference in the country. MaxPreps ranks it that way typically every year, so if you're able to go win this league and not only do it in undefeated fashion, that's pretty monumental in terms of your season goals.
“It's the first box that we can (check) in this phase of the season.”
Orange Lutheran coach Rod Sherman wanted to see his team's best effort against Bosco.
“Fight, fiery, intensity,” Sherman said pregame. “We didn't start very well last week against Mater Dei. We got down early.”
Sherman began to see that passion in the second quarter.
The Lancers found themselves down 23-0 late in the first half. However, they scored 15 unanswered points before halftime on two touchdown passes by Orange Lutheran junior quarterback TJ Lateef, who finished with 186 passing yards and the two touchdowns.
Lateef threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Chris Flores Jr. with 1:16 to go. Sophomore cornerback Marcellous Ryan intercepted Sanchez's pass with 37 seconds to go.
Lateef took advantage of St. John Bosco's miscues and threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to freshman receiver Nico Bland with 15 seconds before halftime. Flores successfully converted a 2-point conversion.
Bosco led 23-15 at halftime.
A 34-yard touchdown pass from Sanchez to Sylvester extended Bosco's lead to 30-15 early in the third quarter.
Orange Lutheran responded with a 4-yard touchdown run by junior running back Steve Chavez, cutting Bosco's lead to 30-22 with 3:42 left in the third.
Bosco's Sanchez added a 45-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Owen Tomich and a 41-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Stacy Dobbins. The Braves led 44-22 with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter.
Negro said he did not want to leave any doubt that Bosco should be the No. 1 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, and he does not want a first-round bye.
“No, do not want a bye,” Negro said. “This bracket should be 16 teams. I've voiced that.
“My kids earn and deserve every round of the playoffs just like everybody else in the other 13 divisions. To isolate us and make us only play 8, 10 or 12 teams and have a bye and then we have a bye before the regional if you're lucky enough to get to the state game, it's just not fair. You talk about competitive equity, you talk about equity as a whole, well how about having equitable playoff divisions and that's what I'm looking for and I'm going to continue to call for it as long as I'm coaching in this until we somehow figure it out and get people to play at a higher level.
“That's what our goal should be, not trying to creatively create tighter ballgames. Let's make people better.”