On Friday, Sept. 26, the Jesuit High School Sacramento varsity football team beat the Rocklin High School Thunder 20-14 in a thrilling upset. The Marauders were able to deliver a big win for the homecoming game, pleasing the student section.

Rocklin received the opening kickoff before driving inside the Jesuit 20-yard line, and eventually getting to the Marauder’s 4-yard line. However, the Marauder defense responded by holding the Thunder on fourth down and forcing a turnover on downs.

Jesuit struggled to move the ball up the field, and punted back to the Thunder with a little over a minute to go in the first quarter. Yet again, the Marauder defense would force another turnover on downs, giving the offense the ball on their own 45-yard line with under a minute left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Marauders quickly moved the ball down the field and capped off a 55-yard drive with a 22-yard rushing touchdown from running back John Giovannettone ’28. Kicker Yudiel “Dragon” Mondragon ’26 converted the Point After Touchdown (PAT) to give Jesuit a 7-0 lead with 11 minutes left until halftime.

The Marauder defense kept their momentum, and forced the Thunder to punt the ball back to Jesuit. Jesuit would take advantage of this opportunity, driving down to the Rocklin 4-yard line before RB Brody Quinn ’27 would run it in for a touchdown. Dragon scored the PAT to give the Marauders a 14-0 lead with around 4 minutes remaining in the half.

Rocklin tried to score after receiving the punt, but the Jesuit defense held strong with defensive end Demare Morgane ’26 recording a 5-yard sack and defensive back Colton Dewar ’28 snagging an interception to shut out the Thunder in the opening half.

Once again, the Jesuit defense was able to force a turnover on downs with Rocklin in the red zone. The Marauders struggled to push the ball upfield in their own territory and fumbled on their own 12-yard line with under a minute left in the third quarter. Rocklin recovered the fumble and scored, making the score 14-7 with 11 minutes left in the game.

Following a Jesuit punt, Rocklin once again pushed down the field, scoring on a 51-yard passing touchdown. The Thunder kicked the PAT and tied the game 14-14 with 6 minutes remaining.

On their final offensive possession of the game, the Marauders drove down the field before Quarterback Teddy Rios ’26 threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Stevie Hughes ’26 with under a minute remaining in the game, giving Jesuit a 20-14 lead.

Jesuit’s running stats included 223 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The defense also showed out with 3 sacks, an interception, and 3 turnovers on downs.

Jesuit is now 1-1 in league play, and 4-2 overall. After a bye week, Jesuit faces the Oak Ridge Trojans at home on Friday Oct. 10th.