Sierra Canyon's Defense Outscored Saint Louis By Itself. Is This the Best Defense in America?

By RepMax Staff

Saint Louis changed quarterbacks at halftime. The new guy's first pass went the other way for six.

Cal commit Duvay Williams jumped the route and took it to the house, and that was only the opening act. Saint Louis turned to a third quarterback, and Eli Zamorano picked him off and ran it back 46 yards. Then came a third pick-six, this one from 90 yards out. All three landed in the first four-plus minutes of the second half (High School On SI live coverage). The scoreboard read 52-0 with 6:41 left in the third quarter, and it read 52-0 at the final horn.

Do the math on that stretch. Sierra Canyon's defense scored 21 points by itself on Thursday night. Saint Louis scored zero.

The Trailblazers are now 3-0, ranked No. 6 in the nation and No. 5 in California. So let's have the conversation everybody in Southern California is already having.

Is Sierra Canyon the Best Defense in the Nation?

Yes. As of Sept. 11, nobody in America is playing defense better than Sierra Canyon. Here's my case.

Three games, 28 points allowed. JSerra scored 21 in a 42-21 Sierra Canyon win, Chaminade-Madonna scored 7, and Saint Louis scored none. That works out to 9.3 points per game against a Trinity League program, a nationally ranked Florida power, and the most decorated program in Hawaii history.

It wins even when the offense stalls. In Florida, Sierra Canyon turned the ball over four times, had a touchdown called back, and got stopped at the goal line twice. The defense answered by shutting out Chaminade-Madonna in the second half while the Trailblazers ran off 17 unanswered points to win 24-7 (High School On SI). Head coach Jon Ellinghouse pointed to his team's physicality afterward, and anyone who watched the second half saw exactly what he meant.

The common-opponent test. Mililani beat Saint Louis 42-0. IMG Academy, ranked No. 3 nationally, beat the Crusaders 41-0. Sierra Canyon beat them 52-0 and scored three defensive touchdowns doing it. Common opponents don't settle a debate alone, but that one counts as evidence.

The front is loaded, and so is the back end. Four-star defensive linemen Kasi Currie (Texas) and Marcus Fakatou (Ohio State) lead the charge. Sophomore Stephan Harrison had two sacks and a pick-six in the Week 0 win over JSerra. Behind them sit UCLA commit Myles Baker at safety, Williams at corner, and uncommitted safety Faruq Muhammad. Baker doubles as a wildcat weapon, too. He took a direct snap and broke multiple tackles on a touchdown run earlier this season (NFHS Network).

Fun subplot: Currie's and Fakatou's future schools, Texas and Ohio State, meet Saturday night in Austin. Teammates on Thursday. Rivals by Saturday.

How the 52-0 Happened

The offense set the tone fast. Senior quarterback Demarco Hernandez, who waited three seasons for his shot and won a preseason battle for the job, launched a deep touchdown pass less than a minute into the game.

Then a Saint Louis punt snap sailed over the punter's head. Sierra Canyon pounced deep in Crusader territory, and Hernandez scrambled in for a 14-0 lead. Sophomore lefty Ian Patterson got a series and hit a short sideline route for a touchdown, and it was 21-0 after one quarter.

Here's the sequence I keep coming back to. Hernandez returned in the second quarter and dropped a deep ball to the Saint Louis 5. The Crusaders dug in and held Sierra Canyon to a field goal. Proud program, still swinging. A few possessions later, Saint Louis was forced to punt from its own end zone. Sierra Canyon took over at the 24, and on the very next snap Hernandez sold a play-action fake and found No. 12 Landon Ressler crossing the field. Ressler made the catch and got acrobatic on his way into the end zone. 31-0 at the half.

All of it came in brutal conditions. The temperature in Chatsworth hit 101 degrees that day, and the game kicked off under an Extreme Heat Warning.

Respect to Saint Louis, too. This is the program that produced Heisman winner Marcus Mariota and Heisman runner-up Tua Tagovailoa. The Crusaders opened with a 20-12 loss to Kahuku, then took on Mililani, IMG, and Sierra Canyon back-to-back-to-back. Seniors Stone Ah Quin and TJ Alualu still project as major-college defensive linemen, and St. John Bosco visits Honolulu on Saturday, Sept. 19. A schedule like that builds men.

The One Thing Sierra Canyon Must Clean Up

Penalties. Pass interference flags handed Saint Louis fresh sets of downs Thursday, and SI's live coverage called penalties one of the few problems the Trailblazers keep running into. Against Saint Louis, that was a footnote. Against a Trinity League offense, free first downs become points.

Next Up: Orange Lutheran, Friday, Sept. 18

Orange Lutheran comes to Chatsworth at 7 p.m. next Friday (MaxPreps), and this one is a real test. The Lancers are 2-1. They lost a 23-22 heartbreaker to Miami Central, won 38-24 at Cathedral Catholic, and knocked off Basha 23-17, with Basha ranked No. 12 in the MaxPreps Top 25 at the time. They visit Serra on Friday night before making the trip north (Orange Lutheran Athletics).

The stakes go beyond one Friday. Sierra Canyon has never reached a CIF Southern Section Division 1 final, and last year's team went 10-0 in the regular season before its playoff run ended. Orange Lutheran is the closest thing to a December playoff opponent the Trailblazers will see before Mission League play.

Jason from "Lets Talk Sports" Prediction

Sierra Canyon 34, Orange Lutheran 13.

Orange Lutheran has scored real points, 83 through three games, and the Lancers have already proven they can beat a ranked team. But I'm betting on the Currie-Fakatou-Harrison front controlling the line of scrimmage and forcing Orange Lutheran into long third downs. Long third downs are where this secondary eats. I'll say it plainly: the Lancers don't reach 14.

If they do, come find me in the comments.

So who's got a better defense than this one right now? Make your case below, drop your Sierra Canyon vs. Orange Lutheran final score, and then see where the Trailblazers land when The Tuesday Ten, RepMax Media's weekly national Top 10, drops Tuesday. Track every Sierra Canyon commit on RepMax.io.