Joyce sparks Crusaders in rout of Rattlers

The defenses for Mojave and Faith Lutheran both had strong starts Friday, forcing negative net yardage and a fumble by both offenses.

On the Crusaders' second drive, a 60-yard run by quarterback Brendan Joyce set up his own 6-yard TD run and it was all Faith Lutheran (4-1, 3-0 Sunset League) from there as the Crusaders topped the host Rattlers, 30-2.

Faith Lutheran running back Christian Marshall was a constant threat, leading all players with 63 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground, and nabbing two shovel passes from Joyce for 49 yards and another touchdown.

Mojave hung around in the game until a devastating turn of events over the span of 2 minutes, 11 seconds. Marshall scored on a 1-yard run with 1:34 left in the first half to make it 23-0. Then, to start the third quarter, the Crusaders (4-1, 3-0 Sunset League) recovered an onside kick and scored three plays later on a 39 yard pass from Joyce to Marshall.

Three quarterbacks got time for the Rattlers. Taiwan Braden completed two passes for 48 yards. Khalid Walker split time between quarterback and running back and amassed 49 yards on 14 carries.

Cole Thomas and Robby Schwartz had interceptions for Faith Lutheran, and Braden had one for the Rattlers (3-2, 2-1).