San Fernando Offense Goes 0 for September

SANTA FE SPRINGS —  San Fernando High’s September death march stumbled to a close Friday night against another tough Southern Section football team.

This time, San Fernando absorbed a 28-0 drubbing from Division I St. Paul, a talented and disciplined band of Swordsmen who took their first win of the year after losses to Loyola, Long Beach Wilson and Fontana.

As for ‘Nando?

They leave September winless (0-3) in their worst start since 1981 and, astonishingly, without an offensive touchdown.

All this despite the presence of one of the City Section’s finest quarterbacks in Michael Wynn, who had a rough go of it dodging rushers and was sacked five times.

“I’m not frustrated so much as I’m curious,” Wynn said. “Curious to see what this offense can do when we put it all together.”

The partisan St. Paul crowd got a chance to see what Wynn could do when given a chance as the senior danced and weaved for 69 yards in 12 carries, not counting the sacks.

In the air, Wynn completed seven of 17 for 86 yards.

But the only thing offensive about San Fernando’s play was its glaring lack of discipline; the Tigers were whistled 12 times for 105 yards.

“Michael’s trying to do a lot of things,” San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez said after the game. “There’s a big load on him right now, a lot of pressure on him to get the team going.” The tone of the game was set early for San Fernando, whose defense jumped offside on the first two scrimmage plays to allow St. Paul its initial first down without breaking a sweat.

St. Paul quarterback Albert Borunda later ran two yards to make it 7-0 before the San Fernando offense took the field.

Wynn was sacked three times in the first half and threw one interception as San Fernando failed to put the ball into St. Paul territory by intermission, at which point the game was effectively over.

Next up for San Fernando?

A game against Canoga Park, which, relatively speaking, must seem like a cool breeze for the Tigers in the midst of this huge desert.

“(San Fernando) has a lot of talent,” St. Paul Coach Miguel Olmedo said. “There are still a lot of things they can do.”

And Hernandez knows where they can start.

“We still have to get the ball into the end zone,” he said as the field emptied. “We’ve just got to get it in the damn end zone.”