SHERMAN OAKS — With a waxing gibbous moon peeking through the clouds over Notre Dame’s football field, Sierra Canyon senior defensive lineman Marcus Fakatou had his eyes focused on one thing: the ball.
Fakatou burst through the line of scrimmage to block an extra-point attempt with Sierra Canyon leading 35-6. His 100% mindset is ingrained in him. No matter the score or situation, Fakatou will give it his all.
That mentality runs through the entire Sierra Canyon roster. The Trailblazers (9-0, 4-0) defeated Notre Dame (7-2, 2-2) 63-6 in a Mission League game Friday night for their 23rd consecutive league victory.
“We’re never overlooking a team,” Fakatou said. “I know some teams like to overlook some other teams, but that’s just not us … When it came to the blocked PAT’s, it was just the little things. Paying attention to the holder. He would just flash his hand, and I was just paying attention to that. So I was just keying it off of it and just going 100 percent.”
After the game, Sierra Canyon’s starting defensive line posed for a picture, all smiles. But those smiles weren’t always there. After transferring from Orange Lutheran this offseason, Fakatou needed time to mesh with his teammates.
You couldn’t tell this unit hadn’t always played together. Sierra Canyon held Notre Dame to 148 total yards and forced multiple turnovers. Fakatou and his running mate, senior defensive lineman Kasi Currie, spent much of the night in the backfield, pressuring Notre Dame senior quarterback Tahj Skinner.
“When I transferred in, there was just a little hostility, because I’m coming from Orange Lutheran,” Fakatou said of his bond with the defensive line. “But they learned how to just welcome me in, and I did the same thing and just learned how to also let them into my life. So ever since, we’ve always been closer together on and off the field.”
The Sierra Canyon defensive line wasn’t the only unit looking to see the joy in the opposing team’s eyes slowly fade away. The Trailblazers’ offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, opening lanes for Sierra Canyon to rush for 204 yards against Notre Dame.
Whether it was counters, pulls or read options, Sierra Canyon’s rushing attack wasn’t going to be stopped. The starting five on the offensive line is a tight-knit group that prides itself on creating lanes for the offense, no matter who’s in the game.
“We all go for lunch, and when we’re going for lunch, we’re talking about football,” Sierra Canyon senior offensive lineman Braydenn Mercer said. “That’s all we talk about. It’s just football, nothing else. The first thing that we talk about in the morning is football.”
The offensive and defensive lines are key to winning football games. If a team controls the line of scrimmage, it tends to win. Sierra Canyon looked dominant on both sides of the ball Friday night, with neither unit showing a weak link.
The Trailblazers have sophomores starting on both lines: right tackle Hunter Bryant on offense and Stephan Harrison on defense. Both have thrived in their roles. Even with Sierra Canyon leading by multiple scores in the third quarter, Bryant was still pancaking defenders on pitch plays.
It’s a credit to how close the units are. No matter their age, the players are all on the same page when it comes to effort. One reason the younger players are ready for game days is that each unit gets to work against the other throughout the week. The tough matchups in practice lead to easier ones on game day.
“We go against the best defensive line in the nation,” Mercer said. “We go against them every day … So when we go against Notre Dame, it’s really almost like a challenge, but not too much.”
Coming into the game, Notre Dame knew it would be facing a tough opponent and needed to play a mistake-free game. But the Knights couldn’t get out of their own way, committing multiple turnovers and making special teams mistakes.
After forcing a three-and-out early in the first quarter, Notre Dame muffed a punt, giving the Trailblazers the ball at the Knights’ 10-yard line. Sierra Canyon senior quarterback Demarco Hernandez followed with a 10-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 14-0.
Sierra Canyon didn’t look back.
“They were very avoidable,” Notre Dame junior tight end Samuel Kasendorf said of the turnovers. “If we execute the pass protection right. If we gave Tahj [Skinner] more time. If we gave the plays more time to develop, we’d have fewer turnovers. But we just got to be smart with the ball down the field, especially when we’re in the red zone.”
Sierra Canyon hosts Bishop Amat next Friday with the Mission League title on the line, while Notre Dame hosts Serra.