By Ray Hamill — The St. Bernard’s Crusaders are hitting their stride early in the season and showing why they should be a legitimate contender for this year’s Big 4.

On Friday night, the Crusaders traveled to McKinleyville and dominated the Panthers on the way to a 37-0 win.

They quickly set the tone on offense with first downs or TDs on seven of their first eight plays and they led 23-0 before the end of the first quarter, before stretching the advantage to 30 points by halftime.

“Super proud of our team,” SB head coach Matt Tomlin said. “They are playing as a family and are worried about team success over individual success. It is a great group of young men to coach.”

One week after they ended a 21-game losing streak with a breakthrough victory over Fort Bragg, the Panthers were outmatched from early in the game and never recovered.

They were moving the ball effectively on their opening possession, but a fumble on a third-and-20 just four minutes in was recovered by St. Bernard’s Tyler Hinrichs, who returned it 25 yards for the opening score of the night.

Hinrichs, who has established himself as a key player for his team with his all-around play, would add a two-point conversion run to put the visitors up 8-0.

After forcing a quick three-and-out on McKinleyville’s next possession, the Crusaders added to their tally just three plays later when Riley Nantz found the end zone from 12 yards out.

Hinrichs would score a second two-point conversion and the Crusaders led 16-0.

Nantz scored his second touchdown of the game before the quarter was out and Hinrich’s PAT made the score 23-0.

The Panthers would grow into the game and began to cause some problems for St. Bernard’s on defense, with a Blake Santos interception early in the second quarter giving his team a boost when they needed it.

But the Panthers were unable to capitalize and the Crusaders would add to their lead when quarterback Trenten Hagler scored on a four-yard TD run with three minutes remaining in the half.

“St. Bernard’s showed that they are an awesome team,” McKinleyville head coach Jason Benge said. “And Matt Tomlin is one of the best coaches in Northern California. 

“It was a tough game for us, but we’ll get back at it and we’ll get better.”

The Crusaders added one second-half TD on a pass from Garrett Shanahan to Mason Noel to close out the scoring, as they improved to 2-0.

The player of the game was St. Bernard’s Kohlton Hall, who finished with a remarkable five sacks and a forced fumble at defensive end.

“Kohlton Hall had a monster game,” Tomlin said.

Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the Panthers, who had three takeaways on defense.

In addition to Santos’ big interception, linebacker Bryce Grutzmacher had an interception in the fourth quarter and Thurman Henderson had a fumble recovery.

And that wasn’t all that impressed their new head coach.

“I think the biggest thing for us is I love the way the boys fought to the end,” Benge said. “They kept their heads up and we fought to the end, and they were trying their best, and that’s the biggest positive for us.”

Jeremiah Smith returned to the lineup after missing the opener and had an immediate impact at receiver and linebacker, while sophomore Trevor Marsh also impressed.

Senior running back Justin Albertson-Spain also had some nice gains on the ground. 

And Benge believes the tough early-season schedule, which also includes a challenging trip to play University Prep next week, will benefit his players when they kick off the Little 4 early next month.

“Playing these tough games early in the season, that’s going to help us be so much better when we get to league,” he said. 

Next up for St. Bernard’s is a home game against Hoopa next weekend.

St. Bernard’s also won Friday night’s JV game by a score of 17-0 as they improved to 2-0.

The Mack JVs dropped to 1-1.