Most quarterbacks only dream of the kind of numbers Sierra Canyon senior Wyatt Becker put up in the first half of Friday night’s showdown in Chatsworth against a strong Oaks Christian team.
Becker was a model of efficiency, using all of the weapons in his arsenal to amass nearly 200 yards through the air, including a pair of touchdowns, as the Trailblazers built a 32-point lead en route to a 35-10 nonleague victory.
“We got our mojo back, got our swag back,” Becker said after connecting on his first seven throws and 10 of 13 over the first two quarters. By the time he took a seat on the bench late in the third quarter the outcome was long decided. “We had a good plan and we came out and executed it.”
After forcing the Lions to go three-and-out on their first possession, the home team took over at its own 45 and needed six plays to march to the opponents’ one-yard line, where Dane Dunn scored on a misdirection play on fourth down to give his team a lead it would never relinquish.
It took only five seconds to double it, as defensive back Jae’on Young intercepted a pass on Oaks Christian’s next play and sprinted 20 yards untouched to the end zone to make it 14-0 with less than four minutes gone.
Noah Laberge booted a 50-yard field goal to cap Oaks Christian’s next drive but Becker found Massiah Mingo down the sideline and the junior wideout stretched over the pylon in midair to make it 21-3 with 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
Late in the second quarter, Dino Scordio got behind his defender and made an over-the-shoulder catch in stride for a 61-yard touchdown and the rout was on.
Dunn lined up in the Wildcat formation, took a direct snap and followed a wall of blockers into the end zone from two yards out to increase the lead to 35-3 with 49 seconds remaining in the half. Dunn appeared to injure himself on the play, had to be helped off the field and did not return.
“It’s good to know I can go to anyone on the field at any time,” Becker said. “We have so much talent. I’ll take my guys over anyone. They make my job easier.”
Sierra Canyon (2-1) began the week ranked No. 8 in The Times’ Top 25 poll — one spot behind Oaks Christian (1-1), but was clearly the superior team.
Safety Andrew Powell closed the scoring when he intercepted a pass from Sierra Canyon backup Chase Everett and returned it 50 yards for the Lions’ only touchdown with 9:23 left. Alex Eason started at quarterback for Oaks Christian, which had beaten Chaminade in its season opener the week before, and completed seven of 14 passes for 54 yards, but Trey Towns Jr. finished up.
Madden Riordan had a 55-yard pick-six for Sierra Canyon but it was nullified by an illegal block in the back penalty.
Not only did Sierra Canyon rebound keenly from its 35-7 defeat to JSerra the previous week, so too did Becker. He was 12-of-30 passing in that game for 129 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
“This was a good bounce-back win for us, a good team win,” he said. “We had a great week of practice and it showed. Hopefully this is a stepping stone for us to go 1-0 every week. That’s what we want to do.”