(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
WESTMINSTER — Fernando Chavez made himself comfortable in the endzone in a 48-0 win over Pinnacle on Saturday. Chavez scored three touchdowns on the ground and returned an interception for a touchdown.
“Fernando is a special player,” Bishop Machebeuf coach Lance Vieira said. “What’s neat about Fernando is he didn’t play football until he got into high school. He’s just bought in to the whole program.”
From the moment Bishop Machebeuf touched the ball on offense, the Buffaloes had a spark.
“Today, we just wanted to run our basic stuff,” Chavez said. “We went with what we’re best at and I think we came in and executed that gameplan well as a team.”
Joe Paolucci returned the Pinnacle punt for a touchdown, but there’s was flag on the play. Machebeuf went to work, and wasted no time as Chavez cut to the left and ran it 29 yards to the endzone.
Chavez again put it in from 15 yards out to give Bishop Machebeuf a 14-0 lead.
“I owe the touchdowns on the ground to my line,” Chavez said. “They’re the ones opening up the big holes. They’re the ones that are blocking for me to get in there, so I owe those to the line.”
Pinnacle looked to show some life as the Timberwolves recovered a fumble at their own 2-yard-line. But, two plays later, the Timberwolves looked up to the scoreboard to see 22-0.
Machebeuf forced a fumble on the the first play of the drive, then Chavez scored his third touchdown of the game — a six-yard touchdown run on the ensuing play.
(Cannon Casey/CHSAANow.com)
“Our defense had some really big hits,” Vieira said. “I don’t know how many turnovers we had today, but Fernando Chavez came up and had to play safety because our starter got hurt in the first quarter there. He came up and made some amazing plays today.”
“It was a good outing by the defense. Actually, the score said 48-0, but I think the defense were the stars today.”
Paolucci got a second shot at a touchdown, and this time it counted. His touchdown made it 30-0.
And again, Paolucci found himself in the endzone. He returned the opening kickoff of the second half to the house to give Bishop Machebeuf a 48-0 lead.
“Keep it simple and try to make the line of scrimmage,” Vieira said on his team’s gameplan. “Do what we needed to do.”
Pinnacle was held to seven yards of offense in the first half as a Bishop Machebeuf safety at the end of the first half gave the Buffaloes a 40-0 lead, and a running clock.
“That was a good way to start the season off, zero weeks are tough,” Vieira said. “A little sloppy out there, but you know what, they took care of business. We played aggressive, hard-hitting football and that’s what we want to be known for here going forward.”
Bishop Machebeuf’s Hunter Reil was carted off the field on the stretcher in the first quarter of the game, but Vieira told CHSAANow that he is doing okay in the hospital with a bad stinger.