Harker has the crowd, St. Vincent gets the win

St. Vincent made another strong statement for one of the top spots in the upcoming North Coast Section football playoffs in Division VII with a dominating 34-6 win over Harker in San Jose on Saturday night.

The Mustangs disappointed a festive homecoming crowd by outplaying the Eagles in all phases of the game to secure their first win in the current series between the two private schools, both playing a freelance schedule. It was the fifth win in succession for St. Vincent, now 7-1 for the season.

After the Mustangs were gifted a 2-point safety on a bad snap from center on the first Harker series, the guests went right to work with an 80-yard march to score a touchdown on their first possession. Three long runs from scrimmage, including a 35-yarder by freshman Kai Hall, pushed the ball deep into Harker territory. The twisting style of Hall broke several Eagle tackles along the way.

Quarterback Jacob Porteous then found Andrew Kohler on a short route for 5 yards to move the ball inside the Eagle 25-yard line.

Junior running back Devaneaux Sagaral rotated into the St. Vincent backfield, and chewed up 23 yards on three carries to set up the score. Sagaral punched it in from the 1-yard line, and the Mustangs began an uninterrupted series of five touchdowns before the decision was made to go to a running clock for the rest of the half.

While St. Vincent was only warming to the task offensively, Harker quarterback Vijay Vyas was under a constant rush by the Mustang front four. Vyas went with an awkward reverse pivot while handing off on most of the Eagle running plays, which were smothered by the Mustangs in the Eagle backfield. Harker didn’t have a first down by its offense until a pass from Vyas to Rohan Varma late in the second quarter.

Touchdowns by Hall and Andrew Kohler helped bump up the margin to 34-0 at halftime. Hall scored on a run of 13 yards and Kohler added a couple of scores, including a 4-yard run, and a well executed 36-yard toss from Porteous down the spine of the Eagle defense in the second quarter.

Late in the second quarter, Mustang coach Trent Herzog entered freshman quarterback Jaret Bosarge, who got some quality snaps before the intermission. The only glitch came on a wild snap from center that cleared the hands of Bosarge and rolled backward, preventing the Mustangs from another touchdown march.

The final score by St. Vincent was a pass interception by Taiki Belway, who alertly jumped a route and gathered in a Vyas pass in full stride to take it to the house on a 25-yard play.

Two long completions by Vyas excited the big crowd, but an early running clock prevented any further scoring by either team before half.

Despite emptying the bench long before the end of the first half, the St. Vincent offense accounted for 236 yards before intermission.

“I was a little disappointed that Harker wanted a running clock before the end of the first half,” said Herzog. “We wound up playing our junior varsity players the entire second half. It’s really too bad because that is the best high school facility for our varsity kids that I have ever seen. It was a great crowd.

“The usual suspects, including Gio Antonini were strong again on the defensive line, and I thought that Sagaral performed well in his carries in the first half.”

Hall racked up 108 rushing yards, including a touchdown, to pace the St. Vincent offense. The hard-to-stop freshman now has 1,229 yards on the ground for the Mustangs. Bosarge added 34 yards in his best rushing game of the season.

Kohler reeled in a 36-yard toss down the middle from Porteous, and ran it into the end zone to go along with his rushing score. Porteous completed six passes on 10 attempts for 98 yards.

Harker won last season’s battle at Yarborough Field, 7-6.