Santa Clarita Christian football’s defense shined for the second straight week after a historic win over the Awaken Christian Academy Lions from Las Vegas.
The Cardinals won the non-league game 74-20, the program’s highest-scoring outing since 2010, on Saturday at College of the Canyons.
SCCS (4-0) had multiple defensive scores including a pick-six from safety Wyatt Shields.
“The defense looked great,” Cards coach Austin Fry said in a phone interview. “Our defensive backs did a great job of making sure that they were disciplined and staying in coverage. Our safety Wyatt Shields, he had two picks at least. He did a great job playing over the top and playing downhill.”
The Cards forced multiple turnovers, in a game Fry expected to be lopsided.
SCCS was originally slated to play Valley Christian Academy, the 2023 CIF Division 1 runner up. Scheduling conflicts kept VCA from playing SCCS and out of the blue came Awaken. The young Lions program with minimal varsity football experience took on the tall task of an out-of-state game with an 8-man Division 1 team in SCCS.
The Lions were able to score a kickoff return for a touchdown early in the game but SCCS tightened the clamps and didn’t allow another point until its third string was well-established in the game.
“That’s huge in these games that kind of get out of hand,” Fry said. “That’s a huge factor for us, later in the season, we’ll need that depth to be able to step seamlessly.”
SCCS ran the ball efficiently on the ground with more positive outings from Jonathan Boelter and company.
SCCS’ biggest challenge yet lies ahead with the Fresno Christian Eagles. The battle of the birds will be the Cardinals’ first road battle of the year, giving the team the challenge of preparing for a new environment following a bus ride of more than three hours.
Fry is excited to see what his Cardinals can do with this new challenge.
“The season is starting to ramp up,” Fry said. “There’s definitely an excitement and refocus, which is nice. The early part of our schedule is over and now there’s a couple ways that we can approach that. I’m proud of our guys for not approaching it like we’re settled. They’ve ramped up the intensity.”
SCCS and Fresno Christian kick off on Friday at 7 p.m.
