Servite football wins physical defensive battle over Chaminade

WEST HILLS — The game between Chaminade and Servite Friday night was custom built for fans of old-school, hard-nosed football.

It was a battle of the lines, bruising rushing attacks and hard-hitting tackles that created echoing thuds on the field.

Offensively, Servite executed a handful of key plays combined with its rushing barrage that led to a touchdown in each half, resulting in a 14-0 victory over Chaminade.

“Defense and the run game travel,” Servite head coach Chris Reinert said. “We relied upon our big bodies up front on the offensive line to move people around, our tight ends, our backs, receivers made timely plays when they had to.

“Defensively it was outstanding. A totally different challenge presented by this team than what we’ve faced the first couple of weeks as far as style of play and we rose to the challenge. We made tons of timely stops and stopped them in the red zone.”

Servite got on the scoreboard early in the first quarter by way of a screen pass from Leo Hannan to Devan Parker that he took in for a 21-yard touchdown.

But San Diego State commit Quaid Carr powered the offense most of the night.

The senior back rarely went down on first contact, following his blockers methodically and using his strength to shed tackles. He finished with 175 yards on 26 rushing attempts.

His counterpart Gavin Gutierrez added 57 rushing yards and the game-sealing touchdown with a little over five minutes left in the game.

“Number one the offensive line and tight ends do a great job blocking, the receivers block on the perimeter/ Number two, Quaid is special. He runs the ball with passion, he runs the ball with enthusiasm, he’s a tremendous athlete,” Reinert said. “Also the other two running backs did their jobs. Gavin Gutierrez had some timely runs that helped us seal the game and Steele Holcomb is in there doing the dirty work. It’s a tremendous room, they’re doing a really great job and I’m proud of all of them.”

Junior running back Niles Davis led Chaminade on the ground with 58 rushing yards that paced the offense early.

But whenever the Eagles started to gain momentum, a missed opportunity to get the ball to an open receiver, or a costly turnover set the offense back.

“We actually were talking about it all week. It’s about executing. In the first half we had a guy streaking down the sideline and we overthrew him. We throw into double coverage,” Chaminade head coach David Machuca said. “It’s really just about execution and getting back to work tomorrow. This is one of the top teams in the nation and we took them down to the very end. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the job done but we’re going back to work. Cathedral is on the clock.”

Chaminade (0-3) has faced a challenging nonleague schedule so far, opening the season against Oaks Christian followed by Cathedral Catholic.

The Eagles will have their hands full with Cathedral and Saguaro from Arizona before Mission League play begins.

“The last three games uniquely had adversity that I think will propel us later in the season when it matters,” Machuca said.

Servite (3-0) has also faced a series of difficult early-season tests, opening the year against East from Utah and Murrieta Valley.

The Friars will play Notre Dame next week and close out its nonleague slate against St. Paul before beginning Trinity League play.

“Every game is a gauntlet, that was a gauntlet right there. That is a well-coached team,” Reinert said. “That’s what you want in the nonleague. You do the best that you can to find really well-coached teams that are going to present a physical challenge, that are going to test you in different ways. So we were very fortunate to come out of here victorious. They pushed us. That’s a very good team.”