LAKE BALBOA — Despite the product that Birmingham put on the football field just seven days prior being far from the one it produced Friday night, head coach Jim Rose wasn’t worried.
“(The loss to Notre Dame) was a good wake up call,” Rose said. “I think we tackled better tonight. I think we played our assignments better tonight.”
Tackling, discipline, really in all three phases, Birmingham was the antithesis of the team it was last week. The Patriots beat Oak Park 56-7, scoring five touchdowns on the ground, one through the air, one on special teams and another on a pick-6.
The onslaught began with a drive that had seemingly hit a wall. The Patriots (2-1) lined up to punt from the Eagles’ 45-yard line.
Instead, Peyton Waters — the Patriots’ starting wide receiver who also plays punter — faked the punt and ran for a touchdown to put Birmingham up 7-0. Waters had 214 all-purpose yards and three rushing touchdowns.
Plays like that kept Oak Park (1-2) guessing throughout Friday night.
Quarterback Kingston Tisdell was accurate early, completing 10 of his first 13 attempts, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter when he threw his first touchdown. On third-and-10, Tisdell hit wide receiver Jay Saucillo on a post route for a 72-yard catch-and-run with six minutes remaining in the game to put the Patriots up 49-7.
The Patriots padded their lead with another score, and if not for a roughing the passer call that set up Oak Park’s only touchdown, a shutout would have been in the cards.
It was a defensive effort highlighted by junior defensive lineman Andy Bailon’s first career touchdown. Just before halftime, he stepped in front of running back Martin Soroa’s route, intercepted Johnny Fulmer’s pass and returned it for a touchdown.
Bailon’s intuition was present across the Patriots’ defense, as they allowed just 123 yards. The improved tackling stood out to Rose, but schematically it was a completely different approach.
“Last week, we didn’t really play any man,” Rose said. “So we wanted to give them a different look, and I thought, overall, our guys did a really good job.”
Waters, in particular, took pride in playing man coverage.
“It’s all about effort,” he said. “I mean the receiver’s going to get some catches, but you got to bounce back the next day and make a play.”
That may be true for most games, but on Friday, Waters didn’t allow a catch. He was targeted just once, as Fulmer did his best to avoid the four-star recruit who is committed to the University of Washington.
It’s performances like this one that show Rose that his guys will be ready for the games he values the most: the ones in November against the West Valley League opponents.
Despite the 49-point margin, Rose saw slight slip ups.
Three weeks in, those missteps are cherished.
“When you can get a win and you make that many mistakes, it’s just going to help us down the road to lock in and get better,” Rose said.