By Tim Peterson
(San Dimas) – San Dimas piled up nearly four hundred yards on the ground and ran over Tahquitz 45-21 Friday night to advance to the CIF Division 9 Semi Finals.
The Saints scored seven touchdowns, all on the ground, and had three different players rush for over 100 yards. San Dimas led 32-7 at the half and it appeared everything had been decided except the final score. But Tahquitz did come up with a couple of big plays in the third quarter before San Dimas closed it out.
Caleb Morquecho scored three touchdowns for San Dimas and Brian Jackson had two. Morquecho rushed for 132 yards on 16 carries and Jackson had 102 on 8 attempts. And they weren’t even the leading rushers. That honor went to Brian Freeland who piled up 134 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.
Oh and by the way on the defensive side San Dimas intercepted five passes – three by Julian Vigil and two by Troy Mejia.
Tahquitz came up with two big pass plays for touchdowns in the third quarter. Romeo Evans found Dorian Levingston twice for scores. First he hit him for a 60-yard touchdown strike. Then with 5:15 left in the third he connected with him for a 56 yard catch and run to cut the San Dimas lead to 32-21.
But San Dimas answered with a 14-yard touchdown run by Jackson with 8:00 left in the fourth quarter as the Saints took advantage of a short field after stopping Tahquitz on fourth down at the Titan 31-yard line.
With 2:09 left San Dimas broke the Titans back with a 7-yard TD jaunt by Morquecho to cap a 79-yard march for the final score of the night.
In the first half it was all Saints. They scored on their first two drives. Morquecho crossed the goal line both times on 13 yard runs for a 13-0 lead. Jacob Gonzalez kept it himself and scored on a one-yard run on the third possession for a 20-0 first quarter lead.
After Levingston picked up his first TD of the night hauling in a 79-yard pass from Evans early in the third quarter, San Dimas put two more on the board. Jackson went right up the middle for 26 yards and Freeland scored from four yards out with 1:00 left in the first half to make it 32-7. The Saints missed four extra points on the night.
Tahquitz then rose for the two quick strikes before the Saints restored order and put it away. Levingston was the bulk of the offense for Tahquitz catching five passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns. Evans threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns but was hurt by the five picks.
Gonzalez threw only five passes for San Dimas completing four for 41 yards while a majority of the damage was done on the ground.
“I think we’re right where we need to be as a team,” said San Dimas head coach Mark Holman. “Our defense played great as well.”
Right where they want to be and now the Saints are running right into the semis.
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