No. 2 St. John Bosco fights off slow start, fired-up No. 9 Pittsburg squad

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PITTSBURG, Calif. — St. John Bosco football coach Jason Negro hammered it home all week: Be consistency. No letting up. Forty-eight minutes of pedal to the metal. 

Especially playing in hostile, new ground. Against a worthy opponent. 

  • SCORES | California Sept. 4

So what happened in the first six minutes? .” 

Two turnovers and a 14-0 deficit. 

“Maybe I over emphasized it all,” Negro said. 

Or maybe it was simply a delayed reaction. 

The Braves, ignited by a special teams touchdown by Dorian Franklin late in the first quarter, were sensational for 42 minutes — especially on defense — en route to a solid 26-14 win at jammed-packed Pittsburg, the state’s No. 9 team according to High School On SI. 

Maliq Allen had two touchdowns, the first an electrifying cross-field 32-yard run and then a 12-yard catch and run from junior quarterback Koa Malau’ulu., who also completed the go-ahead score on a 30-yard strike to 6-foot-4 sophomore Kuika Moaalii. . 

The defense, missing three starters due to injury, did the rest holding down a very explosive Pittsburg offense that managed just 250 yards overall. 

FIGHTING BACK

That after junior quarterback JaVale Jones rifled touchdown passes of 6-yards to a leaping Deveon Wilson and 11 yards to Ramire Lewis in the first six minutes. 

High school football California

Pittsburg junior Daveon Wilson goes high to grab the game’s first touchdown on a 6-yard pass from JaVale Jones. | Photo by Ernie Abrea

“We’re doing this!,” Wilson said along the sideline after Lewis grab. 

From there, it was the Braves who did it all. On the scoreboard and on the defensive front. 

The Pirates were flat shut out and didn’t really get close to scoring. They scored two touchdowns the first and only other times the teams met two years ago in Bellflower, when Bosco prevailed 35-14. 

That Pittsburg team made it all the way to the state 1-AA finals, before losing 26-24 to Lincoln-San Diego. This challenge was even tougher for the Braves (2-1), who opened the season 

42 GREAT MINUTES

“Anybody that’s had to come up here and play in this environment knows these guys are really tough,” Negro said. “Coach (Charlie) Ramirez does an amazing job with these guys and they have a lot of pride and a lot of emotion coming out and we had two critical breakdowns. And then for the rest of the game, we shut them out.” 

High school football California

From L-R, St. John Bosco’s DJ Tubbs (No. 2), Maliq Allen (5), Kuika Moaalii (17) and Koa Malau’ulu (12). | Photo by Ernie Abrea

Ramirez was more than encouraged by his team’s effort and any failure to score more had to do with Bosco’s defense and coaching. 

“First, their schemes are really good and of course, so is their personnel,” Ramirez said. “I lot of what they do is very sophisticated. And they really execute it. They do a fantastic job of disguising many of their coverages. I thought we called a great game and put guys in the right position. But just give those guys (Bosco) credit. They do things at an elite level. 

“This is a game we can definitely build off. It’s just game 2 of hopefully 14.”

ONE OF BEST RBs IN COUNTRY

Negro is looking forward to playing the remainer of this season utilizing Allen, a shifty, strong 5-9, 183-pound senior and third-year starter, who has eight college offers including Minnesota, Syracuse, Texas A&M and Southern Mississippi. 

“I think he’s one of the best backs in the state, if not the country,” Negro said. “He’s just so durable and he does a great job in all phases. He’s so versatile. He catches the ball out of the backfield, he had great runs and he was great in pass protection. He does it all in all three phases of the position. And he’s a leader. I couldn’t be more proud of his performance.”

The Braves needed it and will continue to need it next two weeks when they face Hawaii powers Kahuku (at home) on Sept. 11 and travel to St. Louis on Sept. 19.

They’ll need to put all four quarters — not 3.5 as they showed on Friday. The Braves opened with a 38-28 loss at Bishop Gorman, spotting the Gaels a 21-0 lead at halftime before taking the lead early in the fourth quarter, only to falter late.

PILING UP THE MILES

Last week, Gorman raced to a 38-7 halftime lead, then let up for a 45-25 victory at home against Philadelphia power Roman Catholic.

“We’ve logged a lot of miles the last three weeks, and we will when we go to Hawaii in a couple of weeks,” Negro said. “We got a lot of guys banged up but we have some really good players filling in. We’re only going to get better.”

Moaalii, a 6-4, 202-pound sophomore, is only going to get better, especially with his cousin, Malau’ulu, throwing him the ball.

FAMILY CONNECTION

The third-year starting quarterback gave the Braves their first lead on a beautiful crossing route that Moaalii, grabbed and waltzed into the end zone with 5:17 left in the third quarter to go up 20-14. It was Moaalii’s third touchdown grab of the season.

“We have chemistry,” Moaalii said of he and his cousin. “The (defender) was right behind me, but as soon as (Malau’ulu) threw it I knew it was time to shine.”

The two have been playing catch since they were 10, Moaalii said. “It feels good (getting in the end zone) to look up at the crowd and see everybody hyped up and see my family and teammates. Love to see them all happy.”

WHAT ‘BROTHERS DO!’

It was a much different vibe in the first six minutes, when they trailed by two touchdowns. “We can’t keep starting like that,” Moaalii said. “But if we do we’re always going to pick each other up. That’s what brothers do.”

Now that’s what Pittsburg will have to do heading into next week’s game at James Logan before a big showdown with another Southern California power Mission Viejo, which dropped a 35-21 game at Folsom on Friday.

Jones, a talented junior quarterback who threw for 150 yards and two touchdowns, said Friday’s defeat will only help the Pirates in the long run.

LEARNING, GROWING

“We will grow a lot from this game,” he said. “We learned alot, especially going up against a really good team like that. … We got excited for sure with the early lead, but we calmed it down. This was the biggest game I’ve ever played in. Everyone in the community came together. We came together too so it was a gream moment for sure.”

Even in defeat?

“Yes, that’s a real good team we played,” Jones said. “They did a real good job of disguising their coverages and their line is really, really good too. …. But I like our defense too. Their the reason we got those touchdowns right away..”

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