SAN BERNARDINO — Aquinas football hasn’t lost a league game in years. Friday night was no different.
The Falcons improve to (9-1, 5-0) in league play with a 42-12 dominating home victory over Village Christian (5-5, 3-2).
Aquinas coach Jordan Brusig said they start the year with a strong mentality of doing things that bring success.
“It’s 100 wins for all of them (coaching staff) … It’s not something that I feel is an individual achievement,” Brusig said. “It’s a staff thing and it’s a testament to all these kids we had playing for us over the last 11 years. They’ve done everything we asked them to do and done it with a smile on their face.”
Besides winning league, tonight’s win also marked Brusig’s 100th career win.
Aquinas quarterback Charlie Reyes finished 6 of 9 for 123 yards with three total touchdowns and one interception.
Falcons running back Champ Brown rushed for 122 yards and scored twice, while Tyson Gaines had 83 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Aquinas scored just two minutes into the game as Reyes completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to Gaines.
Gaines, who’s a wide receiver and corner, had an exceptional night.
Following the drive after his touchdown, Gaines caught an interception from Crusaders quarterback Cooper Jackson and ran it 83 yards to the house, giving Aquinas a quick 14-0 lead.
As soon as Village Christian got the ball back, Jackson threw his second interception of the night, right into the hands of Marcus McGeilberry.
Jackson finished 8 for 17 passes with 67 yards. Preston Mathis finished with 139 receiving yards and two touchdowns for the Crusaders.
Aquinas scored three more times before halftime: a 29-yard rushing touchdown for Reyes, a 40-yard touchdown for Gaines’ third score of the night and a 9-yard rushing touchdown for Brown.
With seven minutes remaining in the half, Mathis returned a punt for 74 yards and Village Christian was finally on the board.
Going into the third quarter, Aquinas had a 35-6 lead, but the energy from both teams didn’t diminish.
Village Christian put in quarterback Nathan Remeny for the second half of the game. Remeny finished 7 for 14 with 47 yards and a touchdown.
Just three plays into Aquinas’ first drive of the third quarter resulted in Brown’s second touchdown of the night, an 8-yard run into the end zone.
Before the game ended, Mathis found himself scoring again with a 7-yard receiving touchdown.
Despite the game ending ugly for Village Christian, they already clinched their playoff berth last week.
“Everybody’s 0-0,” Crusaders coach Richard Broussard said. “We’re just blessed with an opportunity to keep playing, not everyone gets that. We don’t take it lightly. We’ve been to the playoffs the last five years, it is a standard in our program so it’s what we expect.”
