By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
It’s been 48 years since Southwood and Loyola last played each other – in fact, Loyola wasn’t even known as Loyola at the time (the school’s name was Jesuit) — and it might another 48 years until you see anything like the wild and craziness of the first quarter Friday night at Messmer Stadium.
There were more possessions in the first quarter – an amazing 13 of them — than you see sometimes in an entire game.
It took the Flyers all of 18 total plays to score five touchdowns in the first quarter as (almost) everything went right for Loyola. Meanwhile, almost everything went wrong for Southwood (three fumbles) in that same time frame.
Loyola set a school record for points in a quarter (36) as the Flyers raised their record to 3-1 with a 50-0 win over the Cowboys to open District 1-4A play.
The Flyers even busted out the ol’ Statue of Liberty play and got a 34-yard scoring run by Ben Brewer to punctuate the onslaught.
“I thought we played well,” said Loyola coach John Sella. “I told them I wanted to get on them fast and keep our foot on the gas and create some turnovers and we did that.”
Indeed they did as all the highlights weren’t just on offense. In the first quarter alone, Alex Mitchell, Carter Ward and Jack Budziszewski all caused and recovered fumbles. It was part of a never-to-be-forgotten night for Ward, a senior cornerback, who went on to have as many interceptions in the game (three) as the entire Flyer team had a year ago.
Thomas Gosslee also had an interception.
That helped lead to a shutout that the Flyers were pretty determined to get in a game that was played with a running clock for the final 2 ½ quarters.
The Homecoming presentation at halftime took up more total time than the second half.
Mason Drake had his second straight three-touchdown game with scoring runs of 3, 2 and 59 yards as he ran for a career-high 136 yards on 13 carries.
The Flyers showed good balance as quarterback Bryce Restovich threw for 192 yards, completing 9 of 15 passes and three touchdowns.
“If you are balanced, that makes it very difficult for teams to stop you,” Sella said.
Jake Black led the Loyola receiving corps with three catches, all of the spectacular variety, for 135 yards. Black had an over-the-shoulder catch in the corner of the end zone for a 30-yard score; an amazing, full-out dive on a 38-yard catch that set up another touchdown; then ran the wrong route but turned it into a 67-yard catch as he outraced the Cowboy defense to the end zone.
Loyola threw a number of deep balls with good success. “They kept walking their safeties down and playing man-to-man, so we had to win those one-on-one battles,” Sella said.
Loyola had 363 yards in total offense and held Southwood to 93.
The Flyers are 3-1 for the first time since going 4-0 to start the 2019 season. They will travel to 4-0 Minden next week.
“That’s going to be a real test,” Sella said. “We will see where we are next week.”
Southwood (0-3, 0-1) will be at Bossier next week.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
LOYOLA 50, SOUTHWOOD 0
Scoring Summary
L – Safety, ball snapped out of the end zone
L – Mason Drake 3 run (run failed)
L – Jake Black 30 pass from Bryce Restovich (Evan Lirette kick)
L – Drake 2 run (Lirette kick)
L – Ben Brewer 34 run (Lirette kick)
L – Brock Geter 45 pass from Restovich (Lirette kick)
L – Black 67 pass from Restovich (Lirette kick)
L – Drake 59 run (Lirette kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING – Southwood, Dylan Turner 11-40, Javious Washington 5-8, Jamil Green 2-4, Team 1-minus-18. Loyola, Drake 13-136, Brewer 1-34, Dominic Rinaudo 6-15, Restovich 2-minus-14.
PASSING – Southwood, Cornelious Martin 8-21-4-59-0. Loyola, Restovich 9-15-0-192-3.
RECEIVING – Southwood, Roderick Bates 4-19, LeQuinton Pinkney 4-40. Loyola, Black 3-135, Geter 2-43, Brewer 1-7, Colby Hamilton 1-5, Drake 2-2