Athlete of the Week: Serra’s Terence Loville

The Daily Journal Athlete of the Week has featured prominently at both wide receiver and as a return man this season. But with torrential rain and wind preventing him from touching the ball in those two tiers for most of the day, Loville was determined to make a splash on defense.

“Knowing I had no catches (in the first half) and I wasn’t really being targeted, I had to step up in any way that I could on defense,” Loville said.

With the Padres winning by 10 points, Loville, from the cornerback position, accounted for each one of those points by his lonesome.

In the first half, he denied San Joaquin a touchdown by breaking up a third-down pass in the end zone. As a result, San Joaquin settled for a field goal — that’s 4 points Loville saved. Then in the second half, he made the play of the game by reading a bubble screen and nabbing an interception to take a 28-yard pick-6 to the house — that’s 6 more points.

Loville ultimately got two touches on offense. In the first half, he took an end around and got hit for a loss of 7 yards. It was a recurring theme for the Padres offense. San Joaquin totaled 10 tackles for losses on the day, holding Serra to just 260 yards of total offense.

The senior’s lone catch, however, was a gem. After Loville’s pick-6 late in the third quarter gave Serra a 21-10 lead, San Joaquin fired right back to score in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, cutting the Padres’ lead to 21-16. Then Serra went on the march with a 15-play, 86-yard scoring drive, highlighted by two third-down conversions and one on fourth down.

After the first third-down pickup — a 21-yard screen pass from quarterback Dom Lampkin to slot receiver Nate Sanchez to advance into San Joaquin territory — the Padres immediately took a shot up the sideline for Loville. This wasn’t the gem, but it almost was, with Loville getting air for an attempt at a high two-handed grab, only to have the pass broken up by sophomore cornerback T.J. Hall.

Two plays later, on third-and-11 from the San Joaquin 45, the Padres went back to Loville. And this time he made what Serra head coach Patrick Walsh called an amazing catch, going over the middle and getting airborne for a leaping haul to give the Padres a first down with a 19-yard pickup. Six plays later, Serra plowed into the end zone on a 2-yard scoring run by Jackson Lataimua to take a 28-16 lead.

“I just knew I had to do whatever I had to do to keep us in this game and not let San Joaquin get the ball again,” Loville said. “Just keep the momentum going in our favor.”

As demonstrated with his pick-6 12 minutes earlier, though, Loville is just as much a threat to score on defense.

It was a tremendous read, with Loville playing off San Joaquin’s 6-3 wide receiver Jalen McMillan.

“I really love the competition between us,” Loville said. “It just shows I can hang with the big dogs too.”

McMillan is a big dog, indeed. The senior ranks fifth in the state with receiving yards this year with 1,595 among team submitting their statistics at MaxPreps.com. He was limited to six catches for 64 yards against the Padres, however. The only game he totaled fewer receiving yards this season was Week 1 in the Panthers’ only other loss of the year 17-14 to Kingsburg.

“It was the tendency of the alignment of the receiver,” Walsh said of Loville’s interception. “That’s a testament to our coaching staff.”

The coaching staff’s involvement in the play was direct, according to Loville, who said his coach anticipated McMillan’s route and hollered the verbal cue for said route off the snap. Loville then reacted to the quarterback’s angle to his receiver.

“When I saw his hips turn, I knew it was coming,” Loville said. “And I just knew I had to take it back to the house.”

Serra defensive end Nusi Malani also had a big hand in the play — literally. With San Joaquin quarterback Finn Collins taking a two-step drop, Malani pressured off the edge and got a big, high hand up to impede Collins’ field of vision. Loville, however, could see the quarterback’s release.

“As soon as he ran out I just peeked at the quarterback a little bit and his hips just turned straight to my side,” Loville said. “So, I knew the ball was coming. And I said — pick-6.”

Loville timed the ball perfectly, stepped in front of McMillan and was already past him when he intercepted the pass. All the strategy culminated in one thought from here, according to Loville.

“Just don’t get caught,” he said. “It was 30 yards — I just had to turn on the burners and get in the end zone.”