INLAND FIELDHOUSE

PHOTO: Milka Soko / SoCal Newspaper Group

SAN BERNARDINO – The Beaumont-San Bernardino Cajon varsity football game on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021, was dominated by the wind and Cajon’s defense, though it’s difficult to tell which was more destructive.

For Beaumont, it was an ugly first quarter underscored by the impossible talk of trying to operate a pass-oriented offense in to a stiff 40-to-60mph wind. It was likely the worst quarter of football in the Cougars’ history, digging a hole so deep no team would be able to dig itself out. Senior RB Armando Cuellar and the offense line got it together as the game moved on, but star QB Christopher Cooper was under constant pressure from Cajon’s burly front seven.

Beaumont head coach Jeff Steinberg: “When I put our team in a bind like that it makes it really tough. The defense has to defend short fields, and it was just like we couldn’t get out of the there in the first quarter. I really didn’t give our guys a chance to be successful/ Defensively, we did some really good things despite what the score was, and I think that’s one of the things we can take away from this. The combination (of the wind and Cajon’s defense), really, was like the perfect storm. You’ve got that 200 mph wind at your face and you’ve got seven in the box and all that pressure just really limited the stuff that we prepared for. We knew we were going to get some pressure and the tight man looks, and think (Cajon) watched film and took it as a challenge, and their guys were really up to the challenge tonight. So many things to take away from this and be able to use down the road rather than never having the opportunity to see something like this and then you go to the playoffs or another big game and they’re like ‘Here you go,’ and you haven’t faced it. I think as coaches and players it gives us the opportunity to think about some things that we need to correct and that starts with me.”

For Cajon, the only misstep on the night was the player’s choice to celebrate at midfield in front of Beaumont’s gathered team after the game. Cajon admins are lucky that a brawl didn’t break out, but everyone is well aware that it’s behavior of that sort that undermines an otherwise unassailable performance. The Cowboys’ nine-minute drive into the wind in the second quarter broke Beaumont’s back, and sophomore QB Martinez Miles connected three times with Ethan Powell – two for touchdowns.

Cajon head coach Nick Rogers: “We knew we were going to play with the wind the whole time so when we got the opportunity take’m and try to pin’em; We know what the wind is like up here at Cajon on the north end of San Bernardino so we were comfortable playing in it and we had a plan for it, and it came up and we were able to jump on them. It’s tough to punt into this stuff so we were able to get good field position and kind of put things away early. They have an excellent passing game so this was a big neutralizing thing for them. That part was good. Hats off to our kids. The defense did a great job, and the offensive line really stepped up and opened up some big holes and we were able to run the ball on these guys, and still we were able to do some stuff in the air, too. We had a turnover on a pick that (Miles) shouldn’t even have thrown and then we got it back. Credit to Brent Austin. He does a great job out there. He’s a lockdown DB and hopefully someone start taking notice on him. He’s a Division I, Power-5 DB in my opinion (but) this is Freddy’s night. He’s the reigning league MVP and he’s putting on another show.”

Beaumont – 0 – 6 – 0 – 0 — 6
Cajon – 32 – 0 – 7 – 15 — 54
First quarter
C – Ford 2 run (Fletcher run), 10:03
C – Safety, 8:47
C – J.Smith 60 run (Fletcher run), 7:47
C – Austin 24 pass from Papatsos (Morris kick), 1:12
C – Powell 27 pass from Miles (Morris kick) 0:43
Second quarter
B – Cooper 2 run (run failed), 9:46
Third quarter
C – Powell 20 pass from Miles (Morris kick), 9:19
Fourth quarter
C – Fletcher 10 run (Morris kick), 10:34
C – Ford 97 run (Austin run), 3:10
Team statistics
Total plays – Beaumont 59; Cajon 48.
First downs – Beaumont 8; Cajon 9.
Penalties – Beaumont 2-10; Cajon 7-70.
Turnovers – Beaumont 2; Cajon 2.
Individual statistics
Rushing – Beaumont: Cuellar 24-88, German 1-5, Nunez 1-(minus-6), Cooper 9-(minus-33); Cajon: Ford 6-105, J.Smith 6-79, Fletcher 22-72, Papatsos 1-9, Austin 1-2, Miles 1-(minus-9).
Passing – Beaumont: Cooper 7-18-2-46; Cajon: Miles 5-8-1-68, Papatsos 1-24, Ford 1-14.
Receiving – Beaumont: Kraut 3-29, Nunez 3-10, Anderson 1-7; Cajon: Powell 3-60, Austin 1-24, Martinez 1-14, Pierce 1-5, Papatsos 1-3.
Interceptions – Beaumont: Anderson 1-4; Cajon: Ware 1-65, Austin 1-23.