It could’ve been the three turnovers Lloyd Memorial forced in Friday’s game against Bishop Brossart.
Maybe it was Juggernauts quarterback Kaleb Evans throwing for 220 yards and three touchdowns, Lloyd’s 175 rushing yards or the 37 unanswered points.
It turned out to be a combination of all three. Lloyd emphatically ended the Mustangs’ four-game winning streak, 44-16, at Cecil Dees Field.
“I’m really proud of this football team from the standpoint of, they show up every day,” Lloyd coach Kyle Niederman said. “They work hard, they watch film, and I’ve even said to them I want to start backing off. And they don’t want to.”
Lloyd won its fourth straight after a season-opening 27-14 loss to Newport Central Catholic, and Niederman said his team “did some good things.”
“We’re playing a bunch of kids that are getting their first season of playing,” Niederman said. “The more we’re playing, the better off we’re playing.”
Lloyd’s list of good things was lengthy: Isaiah Sebastian’s seven catches for 139 yards and three carries for another 47 to go with two touchdowns, Yurii Collins’ 86 rushing yards a score, Jaxon Fann’s fumble recovery and interceptions by Elijah Collins and Alijah Griffin.
Niederman called Sebastian “a great example of figuring out how to become – using football – how to be successful in life.”
“Football, it teaches kids a lot of things,” Sebastian said. “It’s always teaching you something, like fight through adversity or hard times. Not everything in life’s gonna be easy.”
Both Lloyd and Brossart had first-quarter drives that fizzled. The Mustangs’ Quinten Tischner picked off Evans, and Brossart’s drive stalled at the Lloyd 38.
What became evident in the second quarter was, Evans’ passes were accurate at short or long distances.
After Collins intercepted Brossart’s Tyler Holtz, Evans’ first score, a 9-yarder to TY Copeland, featured a 16-yard toss to Sebastian and a pair of 8-yarders to Sebastian and Yurii Collins.
Cameron Mandel capped Brossart’s (4-1) best drive, an 11-play, 79-yard march, with a 1-yard plunge. A 30-yard pass from Holtz to Isaac Amin, a 17-yarder to Nick Cozzi and a 16-yarder to Brady Boruske set up the score.
Holtz threw for 140 yards, including Amin’s two catches for 80 yards.
After Mandel’s touchdown – all Juggernauts, all night.
Lloyd (4-1) scored on the ground – Sebastian’s 41-yard run put his team ahead to stay at 13-7, and Evans crashed through two Mustangs for a 4-yard touchdown with 33.9 seconds before halftime.
It was the suddenness of Lloyd’s third-quarter offense that folks should’ve noticed.
In order: Evans-to-Copeland for 20 yards, Evans-to-Sebastian for 62, Yurii Collins on a 12-yard run, and lineman KyRon Carter’s two carries for 22 yards and a score.
That’s 25 points in a little more than eight minutes.
“There was a whole lot of adversity,” Brossart coach Adam Kozerski said. “We’d been preaching to our guys all week this is going to be a tough game against a tough team.”
Brossart finished the scoring on a safety and Holtz’s 50-yard pass to Amin.
Lloyd thus had another enjoyable night.
“It’s really fun,” Sebastian said. “I just get to do what I love every day.”
JUGGERNAUTS 44, MUSTANGS 16
BISHOP BROSSART— 0-7-0-9 — 16
LLOYD MEMORIAL — 0-19-25-0 — 44
Scoring Plays
Second quarter
LM-TY Copeland 9 pass from Kaleb Evans (Ryan Miller kick), 7:11
BB-Cameron Mandel 1 run (Max Runge kick), 3:19
LM-Isaiah Sebastian 41 run (kick failed), 2:34
LM-Evans 4 run (pass failed), :33.9
Third quarter
LM-Copeland 20 pass from Evans (Miller kick), 11:38
LM-Sebastian 62 pass from Evans (kick failed), 10:30
LM-Yurii Collins 12 run (run failed), 6:42
LM-KyRon Carter 2 run (kick failed), 2:43
Fourth quarter
BB-Safety, Jack Fox tackled in end zone, 7:35
BB-Isaac Amin 50 pass from Tyler Holtz (Runge kick), 2:22
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Bishop Brossart. 140 (Holtz 9-19-140-1 TD-2 INT, Gulley 0-1-0-0-0); Lloyd 220 (Evans 16-20-220-2TD-0 INT), Fox 0-1-0-0-0).
Rushing Yards: Bishop Brossart 58 (Holtz 2-(minus-5), Mandel 12-42, Geyer 6-20, Gulley 1-3, Tischner 1-(minus-1)); Lloyd 175 (Sebastian 3-47, Barger 1-2, Collins 11-86, Copeland 2-9, Griffin 1-27, Evans 1-4, Carter 2-24, Fox 1-(minus-7))
Receiving: Bishop Brossart 140 (Amin 2-80, Boruske 1-16, Cozzi 1-17, Gulley 3-22, Ruth 1-(minus-2), Geyer 1-5); Lloyd 220 (Sebastian 7-139, Barger 3-20. Copeland 2-29, Y. Collins 1-1, E. Collins 3-31).
First downs: Bishop Brossart 10, Lloyd 15.
Turnovers: Bishop Brossart 3, Lloyd 1.
Penalties: Bishop Brossart 2-12, Lloyd 3-30.
Records: Bishop Brossart 4-1, Lloyd Memorial 4-1.