Sierra Canyon traveled to Florida on Thursday, gave away four first-half fumbles, and still left with a 24-7 win over Hollywood Chaminade-Madonna. The Trailblazers were tied 7-7 at halftime, then took control after the break and improved to 2-0.
That is the kind of result that makes people check Maxpreps Football scores twice. A team can lose the ball four times in one half and still win by 17 points only if it starts winning the game everywhere else, and Sierra Canyon did that with Myles Baker, Jaxsen Stokes, Eli Zamorano and Carter Sobel all making it matter.
Baker threw one touchdown pass and ran for another, and his second score fit the moment best. Eric Sondheimer, the Los Angeles Times prep sports columnist, wrote that it was a Baker takeover in Broward County after the UCLA commit threw for a touchdown and then ran for one, turning a tight game into a cushion. Stokes also helped the ground game, Zamorano gave Sierra Canyon strong defense, and Sobel delivered the lead for good with a 31-yard field goal in the third quarter.
The part that will linger is the gap between the score and the mistakes. Sierra Canyon lost four fumbles in the first half, yet Chaminade-Madonna never turned that into a lasting advantage. The game stayed level at halftime, and once the Trailblazers settled down, they controlled the finish well enough that the turnovers stopped mattering almost as much as the stops, the kick and the runs.
Palos Verdes had its own cleaner finish on Thursday, beating Orlando Bishop Moore 21-18 behind two interceptions from Jalen Flowers, including a one-handed highlight play, and help from Weston Reis. Palos Verdes is now 2-0, Sierra Canyon is 2-0, and both California teams handled Florida opponents on the same day. Palos Verdes heads to Carson next Thursday for another nonleague game, while Sierra Canyon’s takeaway is simpler: the mistakes were real, but the response was stronger.
