SAN DIEGO – Led by seniors, the Toreros performed to near perfection on offense, defense and special teams to remain a perfect 6-0 at Torero Stadium with a dominant 45-6 win over Stetson on senior day Saturday.
San Diego moves to 7-3, 5-2 in the PFL, the win marking its first three-game win streak since 2021. The last time USD went a perfect 6-0 at home in a season was 2015.
No senior had as complete of a day as quarterback
Grant Sergent. The native of Salinas, Calif. was one touchdown off the single-game passing TD record with six on the day (on the first six offensive possessions of the game), five in the first half. He had 311 passing yards on 20-28 in the air.
Sergent's go-to, fellow graduating senior
Ja'seem Reed, sat the second half after a monster first half: three touchdowns on five receptions for 121 yards. Reed likely maintains his lead in the PFL and top-10 status nationally in several stat categories, such as his now 11 receiving touchdowns on the season.
On their senior days on defense,
Ruben Lopez had two interceptions as
Nick Murray added one while leading the Toreros in total tackles with seven.
The Toreros honored 22 graduating senior student-athletes prior to the game, in addition to student managers and graduate assistants: DB
Nick Murray, CB
Eric Haney, RB
Kenyon Sims, QB
Grant Sergent, RB
Isaiah Smith, DB
Matt Ballentine, K
Aidan Lehman, RB
Logan Gingg, LB
Jerry Riggins, TE
Cooper Shults, LB
Giovanni Iovino, LB
Chase Lyons, LB
Giulio Fernandes, LB
Jagger Pagano, OL
Jonathan Greaves, OL
Bennett Commander, WR
Darius Hyde, WR
Ja'seem Reed, DL
Justin Aletor, DL
Shayden Molina, DL
Doogie Harvey and LB
Noah Thomas
How it Happened
- After a 46-yard trick-play pass from receiver Cole Monach to Sergent, the QB returned the favor to his wideout, connecting on a nine-yard passing TD to open the scoring
- In a span of 7:14 of game time, Sergent found Reed for three straight touchdowns, for 24 yards, 30 yards and 15 yards to expand the lead to 28-0
- At the end of the first quarter, the Toreros led in total offense 164 yards to 34
- Sergent found Josh Heverly for a 23-yard score to cap a 95-yard drive, Heverly's fifth TD of the season and Sergent's fifth of the first half
- The Toreros continued the second half the way they did the first, scoring on a sixth consecutive drive to start the game as Sergent dropped a pass from 27-yards out to senior Christopher Hall who made a fingertip catch in the back of the endzone, Hall's second catch of the season
- Last week's PFL Special Teams Player of the Week Aidan Lehman landed a 27-yard field goal to push the USD lead to 45-0
- At 4:52 left in the fourth quarter, lineman Brian Coburn preserved the Toreros shutout with a blocked field goal
- Stetson finally scored with 48 seconds remaining on a 52-yard breakthrough run by Trey Clark, however failing on the two-point conversion to settle the final score at 45-6
Other Notables
- The Toreros move to a perfect 11-0 vs. the Hatters, scoring 31-plus for the 11th time, winning by 24-plus for the ninth consecutive time and are now 3-0 when playing Stetson on Senior Day
- The Toreros last won six consecutive home games between the 2021 and 2022 seasons, were perfect at home in the regular season for the first time since 2018 in addition to matching 2015's 6-0 mark at Torero Stadium
