Eagles Are Grounded by St. Monica

For the first two quarters it looked as if the Brentwood School football team was on its way to victory in Saturday night's nonleague contest against St. Monica Catholic at Santa Monica College.

The Eagles were outgaining the opposition and took a 14-7 lead into halftime thanks to a 90-yard kickoff return by Etienne Tremblay with eight seconds left in the first half. Brentwood had all the momentum... until the teams returned from their locker rooms.

St. Monica outscored Brentwood 27-0 over the final 24 minutes to win 34-14 and drop the Eagles' record to 1-2 heading into Friday's Alpha League opener against Kilpatrick.

"They came out [for the second half] with fire and we didn't match their intensity," Brentwood Coach Patrick Brown said. "They wore us down in the second half. We have to learn to play when we're tired."

The host Mariners took the second-half kickoff and marched 60 yards in eight plays, scoring on a three-yard run by Kevin Holubowski. That opened the floodgates, as Brentwood fumbled on its next possession and St. Monica recovered at the Eagles' 14.

It took the Mariners four plays to take the lead, 21-14, on another three-yard touchdown run by Holubowski. Junior quarterback Connor Boggs scrambled for a first down on Brentwood's next drive, but he was sacked on third-and-10 and the Eagles had to punt.

St. Monica took over at midfield and needed seven plays to again find the end zone. Senior running back Sean Martinez broke tackles all the way to the goal line on a 20-yard gallop that increased the Mariners' lead to 28-14 with 7:55 remaining in the fourth quarter. He added a 17-yard run to put the game out of reach with 1:29 left.

"We were kind of flat in the first half and some of out linemen weren't making their blocks," said Martinez, who finished with 110 yards in 21 carries. "We made some adjustments on offense and dominated the second half in every aspect. The same play was working so we ran it over and over."

The Eagles' last gasp ended when Boggs was sacked on fourth down at the Brentwood 45-yard line with seven seconds left. The Mariners took over and Cain took a knee to run out the clock. 

Brentwood might have had a larger lead at halftime had it converted several scoring chances early when it had the St. Monica defense off balance. The Eagles dodged a bullet after failing to get a punt off and turning it over on downs at their own 25, but the defense didn't allow a first down and Sam Saldibar missed a 38-yard field goal wide right for St. Monica.

The Eagles then drove 80 yards in 10 plays, scoring on a 26-yard pass play from Boggs to senior wide receiver Jacob Woocher, who had snuck behind the defense. Dylan Angarella made the subsequent extra point to give Brentwood a 7-0 lead with 2:19 left in the first quarter.

St. Monica went three-and-out on its next drive and the Eagles nearly took a two-touchdown lead on the ensuing possession. Boggs used a play-action pass to freeze the linebackers, leaving Woocher in single coverage but the ball was batted away at the last instant by Mariners cornerback Bryant DeGrate, saving a sure touchdown.

Two plays later, Brentwood tried some razzle-dazzle and caught St. Monica off guard when Boggs pitched it to Eli Stern, who rolled right and threw on the run to a wide-open Angarella, but the sophomore receiver couldn't make the catch at the goal line.

"We missed some opportunities that very easily could've widened our lead," Brown said. "The halfback option was there and when we have those plays open we have to hit them. On a call like that, you usually only get one chance."

St. Monica's offense was stifled by Brentwood's stout run defense for most of the first half, but the Mariners finally caught a break when a mixup in coverage allowed quarterback Luke Cain to complete a long pass to Blaze Hilario that moved St. Monica from its 22 to the Eagles' 35. Four plays later, Cain found Lukas Dretzka over the middle for a 20-yard touchdown and Saldibar's extra point tied the game with 23 seconds left in the first half.

The tie lasted all of 15 seconds. That's how long it took for Tremblay to catch the ensuing kickoff, wait for a wall of blockers, then explode through a seam and race up the left side for the go-ahead score.

"They hit a couple of big throws on their last drive before the half and the first one was underthrown, we had guys there... but their receiver made a great play to come back for the ball," Brown said. "But we got the momentum right back on the kickoff return and we thought if we could execute a little better in the second half we'd be okay."

Boggs connected on eight of 16 passes for 79 yards and Stern, who replaced Boggs in the fourth quarter, was two of five for 20 yards. Woocher caught six passes for 73 yards and Sam Takowsky ran six times for 23 yards for the Eagles. Takowsky and fellow sophomore Drake Mumford each caught two passes.  

Brentwood hosts Kilpatrick (0-2) at 4 p.m. Friday. The Eagles beat the Mustangs 28-12 last season.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

Brentwood

7

7

0

0

14

St. Monica

0

7

14

34

Scoring Summary

Brentwood -- Woocher 26 pass from Boggs (Angarella kick), 2:19 left in 1st qtr.

St. Monica -- Dretzka 20 pass from Cain (Saldibar kick), ) 0:23 left in 2nd qtr.

Brentwood -- Tremblay 90 kickoff return (Angarella kick), 0:08 left in 2nd qtr.

St. Monica -- Holubowski 3 run (Saldibar kick), 6:36 left in 3rd qtr.

St. Monica -- Holubowski 3 run (Saldibar kick), 3:06 left in 3rd qtr. 

St. Monica -- Martinez 20 run (Saldibar kick), 7:55 left in 4th qtr.

St. Monica -- Martinez 17 run (run failed), 1:29 left in 4th qtr.

Records: Brentwood 1-2; St. Monica 2-2.