The Pointers (8-1, 4-0) continued on its season-long trek of returning to the Championship Game at Qualcomm Stadium with a resounding 42-0 victory over the San Diego Cavers (2-8) at Balboa Stadium last Friday night, Nov. 3.
Longtime San Diegans remember Balboa Stadium as the site where the American Football League (AFL) played some of the franchise’s greatest games in the 1960s. The stadium hosted three AFL title games (1961,1963, 1965), including the 1963 AFL championship game when the Chargers defeated the Boston Patriots 51-10. It also hosted three AFL all-star games (1961-1963) and two Thanksgiving games (1964-1965).
The powerful Pointers evoked memories of those great Charger teams as they steamrolled the overmatched Cavers from the opening whistle to the final gun.
Senior running back Lester Arnold opened the scoring for PLHS on a 1-yard touchdown run, then junior tight end Marc Aros added a touchdown on a 27-yard reception from quarterback Lucas Shaw as the Pointers took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same as Point Loma added three more touchdowns; a 28-yard run senior running back Luis Villavicencio, a 30-yard fumble return by junior defensive back Josh Canup and Arnold’s second 1-yard touchdown run in the game helped the Pointers take a commanding 35-0 lead at the half.
Point Loma’s final score occurred in the third quarter on a 78-yard touchdown by Arnold threw the demoralized Caver defense. Arnold was the star on offense for Point Loma as he rushed for 152 yards on only 14 attempts. Overall, Arnold has scored 19 touchdowns averaging 151 yards per game rushing, 9 yards per attempt and has 1553 multi-purpose yards this season.
The Pointers have dominated all season, winning the past four opponents by an average score of 45-12 and scoring at least 40 points in each game (Crawford 42-21, Serra 48-7, Hoover 48-21 and San Diego 42-0).
Point Loma faces its biggest test this week as they face the Mission Bay Buccaneers (7-1, 3-0) on the road this Friday. Mission Bay is coming off a bye week after they defeated Serra two weeks ago 45-0 at home. If PLHS defeats the Bucs, then they can capture the Western League title outright and achieve an undefeated league record (5-0).
But if Mission Bay wins, then the Pointers could share the league title, as both teams would end up with 4-1 league records as they prepare for the playoffs. The Pointers are 20-2 the past two years.