La Costa Canyon blows past Mount Miguel on way to 2-0 start

SPRING VALLEY — Quinn Roth, Jackson Maggiore and the No. 5 La Costa Canyon Mavericks proved to be way too much for the No. 7 Mount Miguel Matadors on a steamy East County Friday night.

Roth threw for three touchdowns, including a 61-yarder to running back Coby Herman on the second play from scrimmage, and Maggiore scored three times as the Mavericks routed the Matadors 45-13.

The high-powered Mavericks scored touchdowns on their first six possessions and settled for a field goal on their seventh. The Mavericks had a shutout going until midway through the fourth quarter, well after coach Sean Sovacool sent in the backups.

“I’m just stoked,” Maggiore said. “I think it’s a big statement game, for sure, 5 vs. 7. We had to show that gap in how good we really are.”

The Mavericks (2-0) have opened the season with two blowouts. They beat St. Augustine 43-14 last week while Mount Miguel (1-1) held off San Marcos 28-27.

Maggiore had touchdown catches of 10 and 31 yards in helping the Mavericks to a 35-0 halftime lead, and a 1-yard scoring run late in the third quarter. Herman scored on a 5-yard run and Luke Ivy had a 1-yard scoring run, both in the first half.

Roth was 10 of 13 for 175 yards passing. Herman ran for 62 yards on top of his 61-yard TD catch.

“It was a huge win,” Roth said. “We know the talent they have, a lot of scholarship guys who will be playing in college. But we knew that together we’re a better team than them so we just had to stay together, do our job, follow our process and we’d come out on top.”

Maggiore hauled in a 50-yard pass on the Mavericks’ first drive of the second half to set up his 1-yard end-around touchdown. The Mavericks got to the Matadors’ 1 in the closing minute of the third quarter before settling for Will Stringfellow’s 20-yard field goal.

The Mavericks (2-0) have opened the season with two blowouts. They beat St. Augustine 43-14 last week while Mount Miguel held off San Marcos 28-27.

The game was delayed a half hour after the campus was locked down earlier in the day because of what the school said was “a concerning social media post related to our school.” The junior varsity game was played with a running clock.

The Matadors won the coin toss and received. On the second play, Herman slipped out of the backfield and was wide open for a short reception before racing down the left sideline to score.

The Mavericks started their next drive on the Matadors’ 43 and needed just four plays for Roth to hit Maggiore on a 5-yard scoring pass.

A turnover gave the Mavericks the ball on the Mount Miguel 38 and on the third play of the drive, Roth found Maggiore across the middle and he broke down the left sideline for a 31-yard score.

It took the Matadors until the final minute of the first quarter to get their first first down and to cross midfield. The Matadors nearly intercepted Roth in the end zone but the quarterback had a nice 9-yard gain to set up Herman’s 5-yard scoring run. Roth then had a 20-yard gain to set up Ivy’s score. The Matadors finally scored on Jeremiah Loper’s 15-yard pass to Tamarrion Williams with 9:27 to play.