Stone Ridge Christian turned homecoming night into another offensive showcase.
Junior quarterback Marcus Gray threw four touchdown passes and senior Daijon O’Neil scored four times — three on the ground and once through the air — as the Knights rolled to a 48-16 win over the Waterford Wildcats on Friday night in a Southern League matchup.
Gray completed 12 of 18 passes for 185 yards, connecting twice with Tristan Quiralte, once with Ethan Beene and six times with O’Neil. The junior continued his steady rise up the Sac-Joaquin Section passing leaderboards, entering the night among the top 10 in yards despite fewer than 100 attempts this season.
O’Neil carried 10 times for 63 yards and caught six passes for 75, giving him four total touchdowns and 15 on the season. Quiralte added nine carries for 50 yards and two receiving scores, while T.J. Mathews ran for 62 yards as the Knights’ balanced offense scored touchdowns on six of its first seven possessions.
Defensively, Stone Ridge Christian limited Waterford’s offense to just 177 total yards. The Knights held senior running back Alex Wolfe, who entered the night averaging more than 90 yards per game, to just 27 yards on six carries. Junior safety Gavin Young intercepted a pass in the second quarter, helping Stone Ridge take a 34-10 halftime lead that it never relinquished.
“The key is the focus our guys play with,” head coach Anthony De Jager said. “We had a great week of practice, worked hard all week, and they executed the game plan. Marcus is a special young man — cool and calm under pressure — and DJ (O’Neil) is another special one. He’s humble, he works hard, and it’s fun to call plays that get him the ball.”
Gray said the Knights have grown tighter since their early-season loss to Denair.
“After that loss, we realized we needed to do better as a team,” Gray said. “These last two games have been good for us. Coach De Jager makes things easy, and our linemen have been huge. Once we get in rhythm, we can’t stop.”
O’Neil said his focus stays the same no matter how many touchdowns he scores.
“I just stay humble and keep working,” he said. “We celebrate for 24 hours, then it’s back to work. All glory to God — I just try to stay as humble as possible.”
Waterford’s lone touchdowns came on a 58-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Damien Tellez to senior receiver Tyree Duncan and a short late-game rushing score from senior Lincoln Wagner. Tellez finished 8-for-22 for 108 yards and an interception.
“They’re not that good — we just played really bad tonight,” Wildcats coach Lonnie Statzer said. “We didn’t show up. When you come out flat, it’s hard to get back up. We’ll chalk it up, forget about it, and go back to work Monday.”
With the win, Stone Ridge Christian improved to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the Southern League, while Waterford fell to 3-3 and 0-2.
De Jager said the Knights’ focus now turns to next week’s road test at Le Grand, which fell to Denair on Friday.