The Bishop’s School Knights, ranked No.2 in Division V, remained unbeaten (5-0) with a 54-6 win over the Escondido Charter White Tigers (3-3) in a non-league football game last Friday, Oct. 5 at La Jolla High’s Gene Edwards Stadium.
“We don’t worry about where we’re ranked,” Bishop’s senior wide receiver Saron Hood said. “We just keep on working hard in practice.”
Hood himself worked over the Escondido Charter defense in the first quarter when he cradled a 5-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Tim Costello to give the Knights an early 6-0 lead.
“Our offensive line created some space and huge holes for seniors like Nicky Cox and Michael Strauss to run through,” Hood said.
Cox and Strauss scored on runs of 5 and 20 yards, respectively, to extend the Bishop’s first period advantage to 20-0.
“We may be undefeated, but we still have some tough teams left on our schedule,” Hood said.
Later in the quarter, the White Tigers were trying their best to make it tough on the Knights, as junior Joseph Kanahele corralled a 12-yard touchdown pass from senior Bryan Haskell to close the gap to 20-6.
“Our play has been good because our practices have been that way,” coach Mike David said. “This is a great group of kids.”
In the second quarter, Costello looked pretty good in connecting on two more scoring strikes with Hood. This time, they hooked up on touchdown passes of 10 and 6 yards to make the score 33-6 in favor of Bishop’s heading into the locker room at the intermission.
“Our starting quarterback, Tommy Wornham, is out with a broken clavicle,” David said. “So we can’t be caught looking too far ahead into the future. It’s an old saying, but we have to take it one game at a time, one possession at a time.”
The Knights scored on two of their possessions in the third quarter as Strauss and senior Mike Eribez each ran one in from a yard out to pad the Bishop’s cushion to 47-6.
“We’re getting better and better with our physical play,” David said. “We were a physical ball club tonight.”
In the fourth quarter, the Knights continued to get physical with the White Tigers as junior running back Stefanos Lazarider took one in from 6 yards out to seal the victory for Bishop’s.
“To be real honest, we don’t look at where we’re rated,” David said of the Knights, who are currently ranked between the Christian Patriots and the Francis Parker Lancers. “We have to focus on the team we’re playing. We prepare and get ready for that game. We can’t stop and concern ourselves with outside matters.”
In addition to hauling in three touchdown passes from Costello (6-of-8, 73 yards passing, 6 PATs), Hood (four catches, 48 yards) led Bishop’s in receiving while Strauss powered the Knights’ ground attack (14 carries, 180 yards, two TDs). Senior running back Joshua Robinson led the White Tigers with 18 carries for 125 yards.