Saugus may have dropped its first two Foothill League games, but following back-to-back wins over Canyon and West Ranch, the Centurions have evened their league record and remain in contention for an automatic playoff berth.
The Centurions defeated the Wildcats, 54-6, behind a six-touchdown first-half performance from Saugus quarterback Jake Nuttall.
“It’s phenomenal. You got to remember for two years that kid took a beating. He was a sophomore and then as a junior last year, and we’ve quadrupled our win totals from the last two years in this one season,” Saugus head coach Jason Bornn said. “’I’m super excited for him, that he’s stuck the course. A lot of other players would have transferred out, would have left, or would have found reasons to just tap out and quit, and that’s just not in his DNA, and it was on display tonight.”
By the end of the game, Nuttall had thrown seven touchdown passes in the win over West Ranch (1-6, 0-3) and broke the school record for most touchdowns thrown in a single game by a quarterback.
“I’m truly humbled and blessed to have this opportunity,” Nuttall said. “There’s a lot of great guys who’ve come before me and played quarterback at Saugus. It’s just, to make a stamp on this, it’s special.”
On the Centurions’ (6-2, 2-2) first drive of the game, Nuttall threw two big passes to receiver Landon Lattimore, including a touchdown reception to take the early lead, 7-0.
Following the Saugus scoring drive, the Wildcats responded with a methodical drive of their own and drove down the field thanks to a pass interference call on the Centurions that gave West Ranch possession in the red zone.
But with possession on the 17-yard line, the Wildcats did not punch the ball into the end zone and chose to kick the field goal.
With the field goal unit out, the kick was blocked, and possession was handed back to the Centurions, who extended their lead on the next drive.
Two plays later, the Centurions led 14-0 following another touchdown pass from Nuttall to Lattimore.
And in the second quarter, Saugus wasn’t finished scoring.
Nuttall threw four more touchdowns to Teddy Knott, Mackyle Diaz and another two to Landon Lattimore.
On the next Saugus drive, Ty Hall joined in on the first-half scoring frenzy with a rushing touchdown of his own as the Centurions led, 48-0, going into halftime.
After the game, Nuttall spoke about the connection he has with his longtime teammate Lattimore, and what makes it so easy to always find each other on the field.
“He finds space so effortlessly,” Nuttall said. “You try to cover one-on-one, it’s not going to work. Kid’s too good of an athlete.”
In the second half, Nuttall and Lattimore found each other for a fifth time in the end zone.
Lattimore ended the game with five touchdown receptions, a feat that his head coach also said deserves praise on this record-breaking night.
“He does this in practice every week in and week out,” Bornn said. “So, it’s not shocking to us … he’s a phenomenal athlete, a fierce competitor, and has a burning desire to just be great. And he works very hard at his craft.”
In the end, Saugus picked up the win and is now in a battle for the third automatic playoff spot in the Foothill League standings with Golden Valley
The Grizzlies, who didn’t play this week because of their scheduled bye, are 2-1 in league play and won’t match up with Saugus until the final week of the season.
With the league so close in the middle of the standings, Nuttall isn’t worried as he believes the team can fight for that third playoff spot.
“The goal is to lock in that third playoff spot,” he said. “We want to do our job, take care of business against Castaic, and then eventually get the Golden Valley game firing on all cylinders with a chance to clinch the third-place spot.”
As for the Wildcats, the team dropped its third league game in a row.
And despite the additions of Charlie Samuelson and Aiden Lynch over the course of the past few weeks to shore up a limited Wildcats roster, West Ranch head coach TJ Yonkers believes this season can still be a positive for his team.
“It’s very easy to get down on ourselves. It’s very easy to be negative as coaches and as a program,” Yonkers said. “But again, we’ve got young guys who are doing good things. They just need time to learn, time to grow, and really, it’s like I said, we’re just focusing on finishing the year strong. Finish, finish, finish. That’s the name of the game.”
Saugus plays again in two weeks at home, hosting Castaic following their bye.
The Wildcats will look to rebound on the road next week with Castaic at Valencia High School.
