TJ Lateef, Orange Lutheran’s talented senior quarterback who was slowed last season by a shoulder injury, apparently thought he was Superman on Friday night as he went airborne trying to hurdle Wesley Ace Jr. of Gardena Serra in the first half. Lateef made it but officials gave him a 15-yard penalty (you can’t try to hurdle defenders in high school football).
Lateef, a Nebraska commit, was making a point that he wasn’t going to let anyone stand in the way of stopping him. He later scored a touchdown on a two-yard run and picked up a key first down on a fourth-down run to help the Lancers to a 21-13 victory.
“I was trying something new,” Lateef said. “I didn’t know it wasn’t allowed. I got to put that away.”
Lateef completed 18 of 25 passes for 185 yards with one interception and had an 11-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Hennessy. The Lancers received big help off the bench after starting running back Steve Chavez was injured on his first carry of the game. Sophomore Jae Nembard, who played in the junior varsity game on Thursday, rushed for 93 yards in 25 carries. The Lancers used their big, physical offensive line to run out the clock on a final drive after Serra quarterback Jimmy Butler scored on a 13-yard run with 5:01 left.
“I thought we were super physical on defense,” Orange Lutheran coach Rod Sherman said.
Junior nose tackle Auma Jennings had two sacks and teamed with Jireh Moe to leave Serra without any kind of running game.
Serra left the field at halftime trailing 14-7 and wondering about lost first-half opportunities. Three times the Cavaliers had the ball deep inside Orange Lutheran territory and settled for zero points on two missed field goals (bad snap on one) and a dropped fourth-down pass in the end zone.
Butler was off much of the night passing even though he threw for 196 yards and ran for two touchdowns. Serra’s star on defense was linebacker Daylawn Reed, who had an interception and several impressive tackles.
As always, Serra’s season usually involves…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/orange-lutheran-defeats-gardena-serra-052347717.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-08-24 05:23:47
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