The Brave News

by Travien Sears, Assistant A+E Editor

The Braves (6-0, 2-0) rushed right into Friday night’s Trinity League matchup on the road against the JSerra Lions (5-2, 1-1) after coming off a nail-biting 27-26 win over Servite, securing what can only be described as a “statement” win.

“There was some order restored back into the galaxy tonight,” St. John Bosco’s Head Coach Jason Negro said. “I’m really pleased with the way we played tonight. It was a very clean game, well-officiated and JSerra is a good football team. I was just really glad to get out of here with a win and stay healthy.”

The Lions had a clean and challenging receiving end that definitely woke up the Braves defenders in the start of the game, especially when the Lion’s Sammy Green returned the opening kickoff of the game an impressive 86 yards to the Braves 13-yard line which then set up quarterback General Booty who set left and executed the 13-yard touchdown pass to Chris Street putting the Lions at the best possible start of a 7-0 lead just 24 seconds into the game.

The Braves, however, couldn’t allow JSerra to keep that lead for long, putting on an absolute show on the offensive side of the ball. Braves Senior Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei found a way to almost always make his O-line look solid, from hitting up receivers, giving the ball to the RB’s or even running the ball himself. One of the most impressive and unexpected runs from Friday nights game was when Uiagalelei ran a 73-yard touchdown less than three minutes into the game to quickly tie the scoreboard at 7-7.

“That was pretty tight”, Uiagalelei said, smiling, when asked about the impressively long touchdown run. “I don’t run very much like that. I was pretty gassed at the end and I was just hoping I didn’t get caught at the 1.”

For someone that doesn’t run much like he did tonight, Uiagalelei, a Clemson commit had six total touchdowns, three passing and three rushing. He ran for 110 yards on nine carries and completed 14 out of 22 passes for 251 yards. Uiagalelei, Kris Hutson, Logan Loya, Jode Mcduffie and Rayshon Luke (who ran for a 19-yard touchdown) all scored offensively for the Braves in their 49-10 win over the Lions.

“We made them earn everything, and that’s another thing that I thought coming into the game, if we put them into situations where they had to throw the ball, it was going to be our advantage. We won first and second downs and that was big for us,” Coach Negro said.

The SJB Defense was also amazing Friday night and repeatedly shut down the JSerra offense from getting a first down much less score a touchdown. They were on point and had a phenomenal performance this game, especially after realizing and having to wake up to what the JSerra offense was capable of in the beginning of the game. 

It’s exactly these kinds of shutdown performances from the defense that are extremely important to Bosco’s success for the rest of the season games and come time for playoffs. This will be especially important against high-powered offenses that the Braves will face in remaining games. It will be absolutely crucial that they show up and show out.

Also, a huge shout out to the SJB Braves Marching Band & Color Guard, St. Joseph’s Cheer Squad and to the crowd for the energy and excitement that was present in Friday night’s game. JSerra may be a trek, but that didn’t stop the Bosco community from making the drive to support the team.

PREDICTED SCORE (in game preview):

Braves- 38, Lions- 28

FINAL SCORE:

Braves- 49, Lions- 10