Football Roundup : Servite Tumbles to Taft, 7-6

Call it beginner’s luck if you wish, but Taft football Coach Tom Stevenson will savor his team’s season-opening 7-6 upset victory over Servite just the same.

Taft wasted no time in scoring as Gregory Bernard scored on the Toreadors first possession of the season. And the Taft defense did its part by making that score stand up before a crowd estimated at 2,000 at Glover Field.

Bernard, a 220-pound senior running back, scored on an 11-yard run with six minutes and 55 seconds to play in the first quarter.

“Hey, the City does beat the (Southern Section) once in a while,” Stevenson said.

Servite was unable to recover any of Taft’s eight fumbles, yet lost possession of its only fumble of the night.

Trailing, 7-0, Servite drove 80 yards on seven plays in the third quarter. Billy Ray capped the drive with a two-yard run. But Servite failed to tie when kicker Adam Thomas’ point-after attempt sailed wide to the right.

That wasn’t the only time Servite’s kicking game let the team down. With 3:08 remaining Servite’s Shawn Kane missed a 34-yard field-goal attempt. That kick went wide to the left.

“Both our kickers were hurt,” Servite Coach Larry Toner said. “Thomas has a thigh injury and Kane’s is personal.

“We thought about going for a touchdown, but Kane told us he thought he could do it and we went with him.”

Servite gained possession one final time, taking over at its own 42 with 42 seconds to play. But Rob Walker’s pass down the sideline was intercepted by Steve Harris.

Walker completed 13 of 16 passes for 179 yards and running back Kent Weiss had 130 rushing yards on 18 carries.