Christian Brothers’ Crowther scores three TDs as Falcons shut out Sacramento High

With time waning in a blowout win over Sacramento High on Friday night, Christian Brothers football coach John Wiley was still working.

The Falcons’ final drive ended when junior quarterback Jake Elorduy threw an ill-advised deep ball that was picked off by the Dragons in the end zone. The clock was running. Christian Brothers was up 42-0, which became the final score as Wiley wrapped up his conversation. Wiley simply had to break down the decision-making process with Elorduy, no matter the score.

“We got a lot of work. We got a lot of work,” Wiley said. “Put it this way, coaches say this all the time, it’s never as good as you think it is and it’s never as bad as you think it is. We’ve got a lot of things we need to improve on, especially playing Jesuit this Friday, we’ve got a lot of things to work on.”

Wiley might have been happier in the first quarter, as the Falcons (1-1) quickly established a dominant lead. Christian Brothers earned a fumble recovery on the first play of the game and went up 7-0 two plays later, when Elorduy hit receiver Brian Garrett on a nice strike over the middle 41 seconds into the game. Following an interception, D.J. Crowther Jr. sprinted in untouched to make it 14-0 with 8:16 left in the first quarter. And it was Crowther again who ran into a pile and out the other side on a 48-yard gallop to put Christian Brothers up 21-0 with 1:50 left in the first quarter. He finished with 114 rushing yards and two running touchdowns. He also scored on a 54-yard swing pass in the second half.

“I wanna give a shoutout to my offensive line, I scored three touchdowns but I can’t do it without them,” Crowther said. “They open up the holes, I run through them, I run hard and I scored. That’s my job.”

Elorduy looked brilliant in the first half, completing 8 of 10 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown. He finished 12-for-22 with 217 yards and three touchdowns.

“He did some really good things,” Wiley said. “When he goes through his progressions, he plays pretty well. When he gets off track, we have to remind him. But he does a lot of great things.”

While Sacramento (1-1) didn’t score, coach Justin Reber had some reasons for optimism. Trailing 21-0, his team put together a monster 21-play, 66-yard drive that ground to a halt at the Christian Brothers 1-yard line. Senior running back Keysean Gooding led the way with 87 yards rushing in the first half. Reber was quick to point out the effort of freshman running back Lamar Radcliffe, who is already a hulk at 6-foot-1 and ran for a tough 32 yards in the first half.

“He’s really good. He’s going to become the cornerstone of our offense,” Reber said. “We’re young up front, we’re young all across the board, so we make a lot of mistakes, a lot of holdings, lot of penalties, lot of turnovers.”

The Dragons are young all over the field, with just four seniors playing this spring. They canceled the JV program and are treating the spring season like an exhibition season, getting young guys reps with an eye toward next season, which starts in five months.

While Christian Brothers has 18 seniors, Crowther and Elorduy are juniors. They’re enjoying a spring run with an eye toward next season, too.

“I’m just trying to come out as at team, work, and ball out. We should win every game,” Crowther said.

Christian Brothers hosts Jesuit on Friday.

Friday scoreboard

Folsom 35, Granite Bay 25

Rocklin 29, Del Oro 21

Union Mine 22, Liberty Ranch 21

Bear River 34, Foresthill 8

Inderkum 42, Bella Vista 9

Natomas 14, Cordova 12

Placer 34, Nevada Union 27

Del Campo 50, Foothill 12

Christian Brothers 42, Sac High 0

Vista del Lago 63, El Camino 6

Ponderosa 56, Rio Linda 0

Vacaville 28, Davis 21

Colfax 21, Center 7

River Valley 26, River City 18

Orestimba 51, Denair 6

Central Catholic 28, Bellarmine 21

Dos Palos 29, Golden Valley 27

Lincoln-Stockon 52, Tracy 27

Sierra 56, Weston Ranch 7

Sonora 33, Gustine 7

Pacheco 16, Los Banos 13

Hughson 38, Waterford 12

Stagg 43, McNair 14

Gregori 54, Modesto 20

Manteca 44, Kimball 38

Turlock 56, Downey 24