Have offense, will travel.
The St. Monica Mariners (3-1) took their show on the road Friday night, pulling off a gritty 24-15 victory over the Lawndale Cardinals behind another electrifying performance from star quarterback Bradley Cassier.
Fresh off last week’s blowout win over Huntington Park, Coach Thomas Barnes’ squad stormed out to a 24-0 halftime lead, blitzing the hosts early and leaning on their defense to hold off a desperate late Lawndale surge. The Mariners improve to 3-1 on the season.
St. Monica set the tone from the jump.
On their opening scoring drive of the first quarter, Cassier, a New Mexico commit who continues to look every bit the Division I talent, dialed up a 40-yard bomb to target Christopher Barnes for the game’s first touchdown.
Cassier then hooked up with Kailan Booker for a slick two-point conversion pass, putting St. Monica up 8-0 and signaling to the home crowd that it was going to be a long night.
The Mariners picked right up where they left off in the second quarter.
Cassier marched the offense right back down the field before hitting Barnes again—this time on a sharp 10-yard strike—for his second touchdown pass of the evening. Running back Jade Mayes punched in the two-point rush, expanding the lead to 16-0.
Minutes later, the Mariners’ defense decided to join the scoring party.
Pressuring Lawndale deep in their own territory, St. Monica trapped the Cardinals in the end zone for a safety to make it 18-0.
Cassier wasn’t done yet, delivering his third touchdown pass of the half by picking apart the secondary and finding Aaron Minter on a 25-yard dart. By the time Martin Tate snared a key interception to slam the door on Lawndale’s last pre-break drive, St. Monica was cruising with a 24-0 cushion at the half.
Lawndale refused to go down quietly on their home turf, mounting a second-half rally behind a third-quarter touchdown pass and a fourth-quarter 1-yard plunge paired with a two-point rush to cut the lead to 24-15.
But when the pressure mounted, St. Monica’s defense clamped down, forcing a crucial turnover on downs in the game’s final minutes to officially seal the road victory.
The Mariners begin league play at Corsair Field next Friday night to host the Bosco Tech Tigers at 7:00 PM.
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Photo: Andrew Meyer
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