The St. Louis Varsity football team competed against The Hesperia Panthers Thursday, Sept. 2, at Wheeler Field, and had a blow-out fourth quarter leading to a 39-19 Sharks victory. 

The Sharks dominated early with a 14-6 lead after a 20-yard touchdown run by Ignatious Jackson. The rest of the first half was a bit of a struggle, but the team worked hard in the end and bounced back.

The highlight of the game came when running back Jackson ended the Hesperia lead with a 36-yard TD run and then added an 82-yard punt return for touchdown to shut the game down. 

Quarterback Reece Giles then ran in from seven-yards out to close the scoring. Jackson stated, “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to return the punt for a touchdown, but my blocks were there which made me turn it up a bit. I was so tired afterwards that I didn’t want to celebrate, but besides that it felt awesome, and I hope I get another chance to do it again.”

There’s a lot of talk of the offensive part of the game, but senior Ben Dousuah had a night on the defensive side with 15 tackles, helping the team massively. Sophomore Joshua Dew tagged along with 10. 

The team now stands at 2-0. Giles stated, “We were making a lot of simple mistakes in the beginning of the game, but we were able to step it up and show how we can play as a team and it went much better. Our team has a lot to improve on and learn, but in the future we will be better and ready to take on tougher teams.”

The Sharks next competition is against Michigan Lutheran Seminary Friday, Sept. 10 at Wheeler Field.