SHERMAN OAKS — After standout wide receiver Luc Weaver graduated and moved on to playing football at USC, his younger brother Mica has worked hard to be ready to replace him for the Notre Dame Knights football team.
On Friday, the junior track standout showed just how far he’s come as he caught a pair of touchdowns to help lead the Knights past visiting Bishop Alemany 48-20.
He also had a score in Notre Dame’s season-opening win over Crespi last week.
“He went through a lot of hard work,” Notre Dame coach Evin Yabu said. “We would be lying if we sat here and said that it happened through, you know, some kind of magical light bulb turning on. It’s been years and months and weeks of going through adversity and overcoming it and finding ways to grow. I’m proud, I’m really proud of him and happy to see him having such positive results.”
His first score came on the first play from scrimmage when Tahj Skinner tossed a pass to Weaver that went for a 63-yard touchdown.
Weaver later added a 4-yard touchdown catch as part of a 28-0 first quarter for the Knights (2-0).
“He had an incredible offseason,” said Skinner. “He’s worked his absolute tail off to get where he’s at today, and it’s just really incredible to see that he’s not just, oh, ‘I’m Luc Weaver’s brother.’ He’s trying to set his own path, his own legacy, and I really appreciate him for that.”
Notre Dame’s defense followed Weaver’s first score with a quick stop before the offense needed just one play to score again. This time running back Noel Washington took a handoff on the first snap of the possession 70 yards for a touchdown.
Washington finished with 158 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns on 10 carries in the win while his freshman brother Nolen chipped in with 67 yards on 13 carries.
“Noel gives you kind of the home run speed, and the slashing, and elusiveness, and Nolen, even though he’s his little bro, is a little bit more of a downhill roller, and he utilizes one cuts and vision to run through arm tackles,” said Yabu. “The combination of them is great. They complement each other well.”
Skinner threw four touchdowns in the win, also connecting on scores with Samuel Kasendorf and Quincy Hearn while Charlie Szaras knocked down a pair of field goals and remained perfect on extra points so far this season for Notre Dame.
In defeat, Steven Krase threw touchdown passes to Kai Martinez and Boogie Carrillo while Michael Boyd ran for a score and Tabary McKnight added 107 rushing yards for the Warriors (0-2).