Point Loma has multi-talented JL Skinner and Madison has running back Kenan Christon. Both are prep football players highly sought after by major universities.
While Skinner has yet to announce his decision, Christon chose USC over offers from Alabama, Notre Dame, Stanford and others.
So when the two schools met in the Western League opener for the Pointers last Friday, keeping the ball out of Christon’s hands would be a priority, right?
Number eight-ranked Madison lined up to receive the opening kickoff… with Christon deep for the return. The Pointers kicked the ball deep, and Christon promptly returned it 90 yards for a touchdown just 12 seconds into the game.
And after the first Pointer possession resulted in a punt, the Warhawks drove 75 yards to score again, Christon covering the final two yards, for a 14-0 lead after 5:30 of play.
From that point on, the Pointers outscored the Warhawks 33-31, but their proud and persistent efforts couldn’t overcome Madison’s early scores.
“We made some mistakes early that left us behind,” said Pointer head coach Mike Hastings. “Every time we got close we couldn’t make that decisive play to get over the hump.”
The loss dropped the Pointers to 4-3 overall, 0-1 in the league. Madison improved to 5-2 and 1-1 following a 49-7 blowout league loss the previous week to Cathedral Catholic.
The Pointers’ first score came after stopping Madison on a fourth-down play at midfield. In a third-and-nine situation, QB Jason Peres found Skinner for a key first down before Myles Bryant scored from two yards at 7:56 before halftime.
A great scoring chance for the Pointers occurred next when they once again stopped the Warhawks. An attempted punt was blocked by Travis O’Toole, and fell into the arms of Wes Windmiller, whose return of 15 yards gave the Dogs great field position. But this drive ended at the Madison 20 when a 37-yard field goal attempt sailed wide.
The next Madison score should be credited to their scoreboard operator.
The Warhawks were threatening and had the ball at the Pointer five with five seconds left on the clock. An attempted pass play didn’t work and their QB scrambled to his right, nearly running out of bounds before throwing an incomplete pass. But when Pointer players, coaches and spectators looked at the scoreboard, it still showed one second remaining after the play that consumed at least 8-10 seconds.
Despite protests by Hastings, game officials allowed Madison to have one more play and they kicked a field goal for a 17-7 lead at intermission.
Hastings explained, “The referees weren’t keeping time on the field, but instead relying on the clock operator. It was out of our control.” 
The teams combined for five touchdowns (35 points) in a wild third quarter. The Warhawks scored the first two, one coming after a Pointer fumble, to assume a  31-14 lead. 
But the Pointers, not having the word “quit” in their dictionary, fought back on their next possession. QB Tre Cobb completed two passes to Kaden Gill and Josh Abbott had a nice run up the sideline before Cobb lofted a perfect pass into the end zone to a leaping Windmiller for the score.
Trailing 45-21, the Pointers struck again, Cobb connecting once more with Windmiller bringing the score to 45-27 after a failed two-point PAT attempt.
Windmiller then picked off his second Warhawk pass of the game and the Dogs drove for a final score, Christian Hall taking it in before a second two-point PAT fell short.
Skinner played both ways at positions of QB, running back and receiver on offense as well as on defense where he delivered some brutal hits on Warhawk ball carriers including Christon.
“The resolve of our kids was strong and we battled every time we got close,” said Hastings, who expressed pride in his players for great effort throughout the game.
Next up
The Pointers travel to Lincoln tomorrow (Oct. 12) for their second league game with the new member Hornets. Lincoln is currently 5-2 (0-1 in the league) with great team speed that has resulted in wins over San Diego, Morse, and La Jolla and a 34-13 loss to league foe St. Augustine. Kickoff is at 6:30 p.m.
“They are a very athletic team and we look forward to the challenge, We always play them well,” Hastings said.
The Pointers finish their regular season with league games against top-10 teams St. Augustine (Oct. 19) and Cathedral Catholic (Oct. 26) both with 6:30 p.m. kickoffs at home.