Santa Clarita Christian School lineman Noah Nnabuo has a simple way of tracking how big the players on opposing teams are.
He was certainly impressed with at the size for a sampling of players from Santa Clara, which will take on SCCS Friday at Valencia in the second round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 13 tournament.
They’ve got some huge dudes, especially on the line. They’re as tall as I am,” said Nnabuo, who’s listed at 6-foot-4, 280 pounds. “I’m finally going to be lining up against players my size.”
Santa Clara (9-2) boasts two linemen in Jacob Gayton (6-foot-4, 245 pounds) and Marc Diaz (6-foot-3, 305 pounds) who will likely give Nnabuo his biggest test of the season on both sides of the ball.
The Cardinals (11-0) defeated Hamilton in the first round, 48-17. Blaike Orth suited up despite injuring his knee in their regular-season finale and caught eight passes for 178 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore running back Lucas Pettee didn’t play after sustaining an injury to close out the regular season. He’s 63 yards rushing shy of 1,000 on the season. _foo
SCCS is still without Caden Brenner, who’s second on the team with 871 yards receiving. Brenner had leg surgery the night of the team’s regular-season finale. The Cardinals have also been without Ethan Schwesinger, who hasn’t played since beating Saddleback Valley Christian on Oct. 5.
SCCS and Santa Clara have three common opponents this season in Trinity Classical Academy, Fairmont Prep and St. Bernard of Playa del Ray. Both teams won all three games. Santa Clara beat Workman 35-7 in the first round.
