St. Bernard Football Wins Season Opener

Over the summer, new St. Bernard High football coach Larry Muno said he expected big things from senior quarterback Christian Smith.

After the Vikings' 28-21 triumph over El Segundo on Friday night it's easy to see why. Smith made big plays and St. Bernard benefited from a couple of costly mistakes to avenge a 55-20 defeat to the Eagles in last year's opener.

"Our kids are tough, they're smart, they have great spirit and I love every one of them," said Muno, who was the coach at St. Monica Catholic in Santa Monica last season and led the Mariners to a league title. "We played a very, very good team tonight. I said at halftime this game could go down to the wire."

Turnovers at the end of the first half and the start of the second half proved crucial to the outcome. El Segundo appeared poised to knot the score just before halftime, but the Vikings recovered a fumble inside their 10-yard line and entered the locker room ahead 14-7.

Then, the host Eagles lost a fumble on the second-half kickoff and Smith ended the ensuing drive with a touchdown run from one yard out that increased the lead to 21-7.

"We wanted to be the first team to score and we were," said Smith, who led the Del Rey League in passing last season with 2,171 yards and 24 touchdowns. "The last time we made the playoffs was in 2008 when we lost in the semifinals. Ever since then it's been downhill but it's our year to get back there." 

Smith, who completed 22 of his 28 passes for 321 yards, found fellow senior Devin Barnes in the flat for a four-yard touchdown in the first quarter and connected with junior Ryan Dobson on a 47-yard strike to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.

The Vikings took a 28-14 lead into the fourth quarter after Smith and Dobson hooked up again, this time on a five-yard scoring pass. The defense clinched the victory with a sack.

"Coach Muno has brought a lot to the program, he's helped us with things we weren't capable of doing, he brought out the superstar in a lot of people," right/left tackle and defensive end Charles Heard said. "Some people thought they were too small to be at certain places on the field but he brought out that mental toughness in them and they've become great players." 

St. Bernard plays View Park Prep of the City Section next Friday at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles.

Score by Quarters

1

2

3

4

Final

St. Bernard

7

7

14

0

28

El Segundo

0

7

7

7

21

Scoring Summary

St. Bernard -- Barnes 4 pass from Smith (Hayward kick)

El Segundo -- Brasher 57 pass from Zeman (Stewart kick)

St. Bernard -- Dobson 48 pass from Smith (Hayward kick)  

St. Bernard -- Smith 2 run (Hayward kick)

El Segundo -- Zeman run 1 yd (Stewart kick)

St. Bernard -- Dobson 5 pass from Smith (Hayward kick)

El Segundo -- Basher 1 yd run (Stewart kick)

Records: St. Bernard 1-0, 0-0; El Segundo 0-1, 0-0.