FB: Notre Dame Dumps Del Oro in SD

Related: Week Two State Top 25 Scoreboard 

Del Oro of Loomis was the original school of the Battle for Veterans/Honor Bowl event, which has become a memorable experience for many teams and players.

Del Oro’s day on Saturday in Oceanside against Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, however, was one the Golden Eagles will try to forget.

In addition to Notre Dame dominating for the first three quarters and posting a 41-24 win, Del Oro lost running back Tevon Rhyne to a dislocated ankle and endured a power outage at its hotel the night before.

“We came back to the hotel at 6:30 last night and when we left this morning the power was still out,” said Del Oro head coach Casey Taylor. “But that’s no excuse. We come from hot weather. I was just not happy with the way we came out. We just didn’t compete in the first half.”

Senior quarterback Grant Kraemer sparked Notre Dame’s first half surge, which resulted in a 27-3 lead. He threw touchdown passes of 51 and 45 yards to senior Daniel Kahn and then scored just before halftime on a 13-yard run. Six more Notre Dame points came via the leg of senior kicker Lucas Alfonso on field goals of 50 and 49 yards.

Del Oro was hoping to get some momentum just before halftime and converted on a 43-yard field goal by Mason Humes with two minutes left in the quarter. The Knights, however, quickly struck back on a 28-yard pass play from Kraemer to Mike Little and then with six seconds remaining in the half it was Kraemer scrambling in for his 13-yard touchdown run.

In the second half, the Knights found success with senior Koa Farmer running out of the Wildcat formation. He scored the team’s fifth and sixth touchdowns on runs of 23 and six yards.

After the injury to Rhyne, which held up the game for nearly 20 minutes due its seriousness, Del Oro played its best football of the day and got within 34-24 on two scoring passes by senior quarterback Michael Moore (both to tight end Tyler Meteer). But with 3:24 left, the Golden Eagles could not recover an onside kick.

Notre Dame’s strong effort will need to be forgotten quickly, too. In their next game, the Knights will take on state No. 4 Serra of Gardena, which they lost to 26-23 in the season-opener last year. The Knights might be in the overall state top 25 by then, too.