BUENA PARK — Westminster’s freshman quarterback Beckham Sharp threw for a touchdown and ran for a score in the Lions’ 17-0 victory over Buena Park in a nonleague football game Thursday at Buena Park High School.
Sharp, who recently transferred from Idaho where he played club football, has thrown three touchdown passes through two games, helping the Lions (1-1) even their record.
“He’s got to be a little bit more confident and throw that ball on time, in my opinion, but he did a good job,” Westminster coach Alex De Giacomo said. “He played it pretty well. He did a great job stepping up.”
At times, the game came across like an exercise in futility for Buena Park (1-1), due in part to the Lions’ defense.
But the Coyotes also committed 12 penalties for 126 yards, killing their own drives and enabling the Lions to extend drives.
Buena Park’s 11 drives resulted in six fourth-down stops, four punts and an interception.
The Coyotes faced a second-and-1 from the Lions 11 on the game’s opening drive.
The next three downs resulted in a rush for no gain, an incompletion and a rush for no gain.
Buena Park also made a key stop in the quarter when the Lions faced a third-and-goal from the 5, and safety Joshua Santillan intercepted a pass in the end zone.
Santillan returned the interception for an apparent 99-yard touchdown, however the score was called back for a holding penalty on the return.
The only score in the first half came on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Sharp to Noah Pedraza.
The scoring play capped a nine-play, 55-yard drive, set up by an interception by Ricky Mireles.
Buena Park was trailing 10-0 in the fourth and was forced to go for it on a fourth-and-5 from its 26.
The Lions allowed three yards on the play and took over from the Coyotes’ 29.
An unsportsmanlike conduct call on the Coyotes followed by a personal foul penalty gave the Lions a first-and-goal from the 3.
Sharp scored on a 3-yard run on the next play.
“I’ve been working hard all my life to get here, just to get to this moment,” Sharp said. “I fixed a lot of my mental mistakes this week but I still have a lot to improve on. I’m blessed to be able to say I can be part of this team.”