As the sun faded behind the bleachers of Hoss Memtsas Stadium in Harvey, the 2020 Jesuit Football team took the field to deliver a thrashing to the Helen Cox Cougars. The season-that-might-not-have-been began with the Jays, under the leadership of interim head coach Scott Bairnsfather, holding the Cougars to a single touchdown for a final score of 45 – 6.

“Finally, ” Bairnsfather began his pregame pep talk. “Finally we get to put our matching shoulder pads and helmet against another school’s matching shoulder pads and helmets. It’s our responsibility to play hard, to play fast, to fight hard—and then to celebrate with our teammates.”

With quarterback Luke LaForge winning the toss and deferring to the second half, the dominant Blue Jay defense opened the game with the first of many 3-and-outs. Soon thereafter, wide reciever Luke Besh, named player of the game with 104 total yards, caught a touchdown from Laforge to put the Jays on the scoreboard.

With the Jesuit defense forcing their second three-and-out, a short Cougar punt left the Jays with excellent field position on the Helen Cox 35 yard line. Though the offense struggled to make any large gains, the team was able to pick up 3 points with a 31-yard field goal from Aiden Corbello, brining the lead to 10 – 0 with over two minutes still remaining in the first quarter.

When it looked like Helen Cox might be able to gain some footing, Vincent Logiudice snagged an interception to bring the ball back into Jesuit’s possession for the start of the second quarter. Before the half concluded, Besh made another nearly-40-yard touchdown play with quarterback Jack Larriviere, and around the 5-minute-mark Larriviere ran in another touchdown himself to boost the Jays to 24 points at halftime.

Even when the team took to the sideline for halftime, the Blue Jay Band—under the student leadership of newly-tapped Drum Major Louis Bercaw—ensured that the on-field excitement continued on. The band and Jayettes performed a custom arrangement of “High Hopes” written by Jesuit juniors Louis Bercaw and Matthew Vuong.

In the third quarter, the Blue Jay defense held fast, and Helen Cox was unable to put up any points. LaForge completed another 25-yard pass to Besh to gain another touchdown for the pair, bringing the score to 31 – 0.

Jordan Hughes ran in a 12-yard touchdown in the final quarter, and the icing on the cake was a 48-yard pick-six by senior Dylan Faust. Though Helen Cox was able to pick up 6 points, the Jays retained their commanding lead, ending the season-opener with a score of 45 – 6.

Kicker Aidan Corbello successfully completed all 4 of his PATs, and Kian Badie put up the final point of the game as the closing kicker for the last touchdown.

Overall, Jesuit ran for 106 yards and passed for 127 to pick up a total of 12 first downs, fumbling the ball only once. The Jays’ two punts averaged 39 yards each. LaForge rushed for 12 yards and completed 6 passes for 89 while Larriviere rushed for 15 and picked up 38 yards with his 4 passes.

The Jays will look to improve upon their impressive start at Hoss Memtsas on Oct. 10 at 7 p.m. against the Brother Martin Crusaders.