Friday night’s games between the Bellarmine Bells (10-1) and the Serra Padres (9-2) will be a rematch between arguably the two best teams in the Bay Area. Except this time, the stakes are much higher.
When the two teams meet in Friday night's semifinal at Independence High School in San Jose, the winner will earn the chance to defend its reputation at the CCS Open Division championship game and possibly play in the state tournament, while the losing team will come home empty handed with thoughts of what could have been.
About six weeks ago these teams walked into their regular season matchup, with only one loss between the two, as Bellarmine lost to De La Salle in their season opener. Just as expected, the game was close and Bellarmine stormed out to a two-touchdown lead before Serra came back and tied it. However, the game came down to a failed two-point conversion in overtime by the Padres, as running back Eric Redwood was tackled inches shy of the goal line.
“Bellarmine beat us on more plays than we beat them,” Serra coach Patrick Walsh said looking back on the loss this week. “They made more plays all across the board.”
Since that game each team has showed its dominance in the WCAL as Bellarmine cruised to a league title, while Serra finished just two games behind.
Ultimately these two teams know each other and what they are going to bring on Friday night.
“Bellarmine knows who our best guy is and we know who their best guy is,” Walsh said. “In a definitive time in the game, number 16 (Kenneth Olugbode) or number 10 (KJ Carta-Samuels) is getting the ball, and probably number 2 (Eric Redwood) for Serra.”
Last week Bellarmine, despite harsh weather conditions, cruised to a 33-14 victory over eighth-seeded Terra Nova. Serra on the other hand, had to battle through a tough first half. However, in the second half Serra was able to stop the high powered Palo Alto offense, holding the Vikings to a single touchdown late in the game, and rolled to a 52-35 victory.
Serra running back Eric Redwood continued to dominate as he set the Serra career and single game rushing records behind 288 yards and four touchdowns.
“It felt good,” Redwood said. “I’m glad to have done it.”
These two teams have rolled through most of their games this season, however Friday night’s game could come down to a couple of yards in the fourth quarter or overtime, just as it did in the first matchup. While the stars of the show, Redwood, Carta-Samuels, and Olugbode, will need to show up, it could come down to the play of players in supporting roles such as Serra running back Angelo Arco and Bellarmine running back Joey Sanfilippo.
“There are horses on both teams,” Walsh said. “And the ponies need to show up.”
