By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders came into Thursday night’s showdown at Hoopa with a big question mark hovering over them and their championship ambitions this fall.

Namely, how to replace standout Wyatt Simoni, who was last year’s Humboldt Sports Football Player of the Year and a force on both sides of the ball at running back and defensive end.

Well, they answered that question in emphatic fashion in a dominating 45-6 win over the Warriors.

On offense, they filled the departed Simoni’s shoes with a team effort, with six different players scoring their six touchdowns, showcasing their team depth at the skill level positions.

On defense, meanwhile, junior Jahseree Bailey filled in admirably for the departed Simoni with a player-of-the-game performance.

Bailey, who played mostly JV last fall, finished Thursday’s game with three sacks, a forced fumble and seven tackles.

“I thought Jahseree was outstanding,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. “He’s a lot more focused this year.

“I am very proud of the effort Jahseree has been putting into practice and we saw it pay off in the game with an outstanding performance.”

Bailey is the younger brother of Perry Bailey, a former SB standout who has returned from Santa Rosa to play for College of the Redwoods this fall.

But he wasn’t the only hero from Friday’s dominating performance that saw the Crusaders open up a 24-6 lead by halftime and end the game as a contest long before the fourth quarter.

And they did it despite missing multiple players through sickness and injuries.

“I thought it was an outstanding performance, and I say that because we were missing some good football players,” Tomlin said. “Some of the younger guys stepped up.”

It was the second straight weekend the Crusaders “exceeded expectations,” according to the longtime head coach, who also was impressed with the team effort at last week’s preseason scrimmage.

“I really like how we’re competing when we play,” he said.

Photo by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com

In addition to the strong performance by Jahseree Bailey, teammate Luis Malko-Allen also had a big season debut and led a relentless ground attack with 125 yards rushing on 15 carries and scored a TD.

The Crusaders set the tone running the ball on the opening drive and finished with 233 yards rushing on 34 carries with multiple players contributing.

The offensive line opened up some big holes for the running backs, as a new-look unit hit the ground running, excuse the pun.

“Any time you run for 200 yards, you’re going to have a good night,” the head coach added.

Quarterbacks Luke Brunton and Trenton Hagler also impressed while sharing time under center and both of them threw for a TD.

Hagler completed 8 of 15 passes for 89 yards, while Brunton completed 6 of 9 passes for 86 yards.