HUGHSON — Modesto Christian’s defense highlighted the night as the Crusaders shut out Hughson, 37-0.

Jose Hernandez gave the Crusaders an early with a 31-yard run. Two minutes later, Patrick Garcia scored on the first play of the next drive, taking the ball for a 67-yard ride and a 14-0 cushion after the first quarter.

“It means a lot to get the win tonight. We came out with a good game plan and ended up executing well,” said Garcia. “We’re going to take things one game at a time.”

The Crusaders extended their lead with a 21-yard field goal, and quarterback Hayden Sauser later closed the half with a 27-yard pass to Johnny Williams to make it 23-0 lead heading into halftime.

Hughson lost its dynamic dual-threat quarterback, Steven Morris, to a shoulder injury in the second quarter. Hughson coach Shaun King later confirmed the injury as slight separation in his throwing arm. Wide receiver Jaxon Davis replaced Morris.

“We lost our quarterback early tonight he got pretty banged up,” said King. “This weekend we are going to talk as a coaching staff and assess the quarterback position.”

The Crusaders capped off the game with two more touchdowns. Dillon Johnson recovered a punt and scored from 7 yards to widen the lead, 30-0. Isaac Schinmann capped the scoring with a 9-yard run.

“Our kids, they’re on a mission to keep on rolling through the TVL season,” said Modesto Christian coach Mike Parsons, whose defense has held all six opponents to nine points or fewer. “Heading into next week we want to continue playing sound defense and see what our offense can do.”

No.8 Hughson (4-2) will continue its TVL trek as they remain at home to play Riverbank (2-4) next week, while No.3 Modesto Christian (6-0) hosts No.2 Escalon (5-1) after its 20-17 loss to Hilmar.