Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders got the new high school football season off to a winning start on Thursday night, with a comprehensive 45-6 win at Hoopa.

The visitors scored on their opening two possessions to quickly take control and stretched the lead to 17 points on a 42-yard Tyler Hinrichs field goal midway through the second quarter.

They would pull further away in the final minute of the opening half when quarterback Trenten Hagler connected with receiver Quentin Ikeya on a 20-yard TD pass.

Hoopa, however, would carry some momentum into the halftime break and gave the home fans something to cheer about on the next play from scrimmage.

Quarterback Lyle McKinnon tossed the ball to teammate Allen Kane, who threw the ball 60 yards in the air to a wide open Brandon Romero, who displayed his speed and took the ball to the end zone on a 91-yard TD reception.

It was a great call and a well-executed play at a pivotal time of the game to give the Warriors their first score of the new season and some much-needed momentum.

That, however, was all the scoring the home team could muster and the Crusaders would add to their tally with three second-half touchdowns to pull away and seal the season-opening victory.

As you would expect from the first game of the season, there was an assortment of miscues and penalties from both teams on both sides of the ball.

There were, however, also plenty of bright spots for both teams, most notably the Crusaders who had six different players combine to score their six TDs.

Quarterback Luke Brunton, who split time with Hagler at the position, combined with receiver Garrett Shanahan on the opening score of the night.

The latter pulled in a spectacular one-handed catch for a nine-yard TD reception to get the party started the opening possession of the game.

Senior running back Luis Malko-Allen ran the ball effectively behind an SB line that helped set the tone.

Check out video highlights of Garrett Shanahan’s TD catch below …

Malko-Allen scored the second TD of the night on a three-yard run.

Hinrichs, Michael Manzi and Tyler Maples each added short TD runs after the break as the Crusaders ended the game as a contest long before the final buzzer.

Hinrichs added six PATs to cap an outstanding start to the new season for the versatile junior who could very well be the best kicker in the H-DNL right now.

On defense, Ikeya had an early interception to end Hoopa’s second drive of the game and Michael Fugate added a fumble recovery on special teams to set up Hinrichs’ impressive field goal.

Maples and Brunton each also had an interception to set up a pair of TDs for the visitors either side of halftime.

The Warriors to their credit did a good job handling the Crusaders’ onside kicks in the first half, while the speedy Romero looked dangerous at times and had a couple of big gains to help keep the SB defense on its toes.

Ultimately, however, the night belonged to the dominating Crusaders who improved to 1-0 and look like they could be in for another good season.

Next up, the Crusaders will host Willits in their home opener next weekend, while the Warriors will try to get back on track when they host Etna next Friday night.

We’ll have more on this game, including some video highlights, on Friday.