San Fernando Breezes to Victory Over Taft

Taft High Coach Tom Stevenson is the kind of guy who would wear shorts in a blizzard. Friday night, he did just that.

In an unseasonably cold windstorm that was enough to chill the hardiest of souls, San Fernando won in--appropriately enough--a blowout.

The Tigers scored twice in the first five minutes and poured it on in the second half of a 37-0 victory in a Northwest Valley Conference game at San Fernando.

These were not the winds of change: It marked the third shutout of the season for San Fernando, which has not lost to Taft since 1979.

“That was a good, old-fashioned Eastside . . . whipping,” Stevenson said. “They dominated us from start to finish. It was embarrassing.”

San Fernando (4-2, 2-1 in league play) was led by running back Leonice Brown, a senior transfer from Crespi who scored a career-high three touchdowns on runs of 19, three and 21 yards.

Brown finished with a game-high 79 yards in 13 carries. Backfield mates LaKarlos Townsend and Will Taylor added 60 and 56 yards, respectively.

Once again, it was the unselfish Tiger trio that led the way. Brown said that he didn’t mind sharing the load one bit.

“It doesn’t matter how many yards we get,” Brown said. “As long as we win, who cares who has the most yards?”

In this case, it was Brown’s younger brother, Johnnie, whose yardage won’t show up in the offensive totals.

Leading, 15-0, San Fernando applied the coup de grace with 5 minutes 53 seconds left in the third quarter. Taft (3-2, 2-1) drove inside the Tiger 10, but the drive stalled and Stevenson sent in the field-goal crew. Kicker Carlos Mansilla’s 19-yard attempt struck one of his linemen and Johnnie Brown scooped up the loose ball and raced 86 yards for a touchdown and a 23-0 lead.

“That was tight down there,” San Fernando Coach Tom Hernandez said. “That could have turned it around. But we make the big play and take it in. It was tight, real tight.”

Thereafter, Taft came undone.

Brown scored on a three-yard run with 8:52 remaining and from 12 yards with 3:25 left.

Taft, which lost five fumbles, was held to 90 yards. Tailback Darnell Hendricks gained 39 yards in 14 carries. San Fernando gained 235 yards, 195 on the ground.

A 25-yard “punt” return by Townsend gave San Fernando the ball on its own 27 in the first quarter. Taft, heading into a strong head wind, elected to have Mansilla kick a line drive out of field-goal formation.

On the first play, Taylor broke loose and scored for a 6-0 lead with 9:50 remaining in the quarter.

Taft didn’t do much better the next time it got its hands on the ball, mainly because it never got its hands on the ball. Quarterback Karlon Mack fumbled the snap from center on first and 10 from the Toreador 28, and San Fernando’s Anthony Murray recovered.

Three plays later, Leonice Brown took a pitch around right end for a 19-yard touchdown, giving San Fernando a 12-0 lead.

San Fernando’s Jose Servin kicked a 40-yard field goal into the wind to give the Tigers a 15-0 lead with 8:20 left in the half.