St. Vincent impressive in football-opening win over McKinleyville

To say St. Vincent’s Mustangs got their football season off to a quick start would be a major understatement.

Playing on the Humboldt State field in Eureka on Friday night, the Mustangs scored in both their and McKinleyville’s first offensive possessions, and romped to a 37-3 victory.

In its first possession of the new season, St. Vincent went 65 yards, all on the ground, to score in seven plays, with sophomore quarterback Jacob Porteous scoring the season’s first touchdown on a 7-yard run.

Fifteen seconds later, St. Vincent scored again when, on McKinleyville’s first possession, a bad pitch resulted in a fumble in the end zone, and Casa’s Gio Antonini winning the scrum for the football, recovering in the end zone for another Mustang touchdown.

It was all Mustang fun from there.

Freshman speedster Kai Hall made an impressive high school football debut, rushing for 169 yards and scoring three touchdowns.

Hall’s first varsity touchdown came at the end of the first half on a 4-yard run to give the Mustangs a 19-0 halftime lead.

St. Vincent kept the scoreboard blinking in the second half on a 49-yard Hall breakaway and a 2-yard scamper, along with a 24-yard pass interception return by Tommy Izard.

McKinleyville scored late on a 37-yard field goal by Caleb Coke.

St. Vincent totaled 243 rushing yards, with Liam O’Hare supporting Hall with 52 ground yards. Porteous, in his first varsity game, completed four of eight passes for 49 yards.

Gio Antonini was selected Defensive Player of the Game after recovering the fumble for a touchdown, making eight tackles and being credited with 1.5 tackles for loss. Jeremy Bukolsky and Giovanni Vaca each made six tackles each, while Andrew Kohler and Izard had five apiece.

The Mustangs made four pass interceptions, with Izard picking off two and Dante Antonini and Nate Berniklau one each. At one point, Izard and Berniklau swiped Panther passes in back-to-back McKinleyville possessions.

Herzog was happy not only with the result, but with the effort of his team during the two-day trip to Eureka. “The players gave a great effort,” he said. “They played with a lot of passion and energy.

“There were a few things we have to clean up. We had too many penalties, but the problems are all fixable. Overall, I was very pleased.”

St. Vincent will try to make it back-to-back road wins when it travels to Cloverdale on Friday night.