PALO ALTO - The year continues to get better for Bellarmine’s first-year head coach Justin Johnson after Saturday’s 2-0 win over host Palo Alto in the quarterfinals of the CCS Division I playoffs. With a WCAL title already under his belt this season, Johnson and his Bells are in search of the program’s 17th section title and are looking to win consecutive titles for the first time since BCP won three in a row from 2000-2002.
On a gloomy and rainy day at Viking Stadium, Palo Alto’s defense suffocated the Bells for the first 20 minutes of play with intense pressure being put especially on forward Dylan Carrubba.
The junior eventually received some help from the referees with a foul being called on Paly defenders in the right corner, setting up a free kick by midfielder Nicky Saglimbeni. Carrubba made is way into the box and found some space, heading in the pass from Saglimbeni and giving the Bells a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute.
“It was pretty cool. I just saw that in the box it was pretty open. They had been pressing me all game but for whatever reason they gave me a little berth of space and I came through,” said Carrubba. “I came through and (Saglimbeni) played a perfect ball and I was just able to rip it in there.”
Paly scored just 14 goals during league play, making the 1-0 deficit difficult to overcome. Less than five minutes later, however, Bellarmine struck again to make the task even more challenging.
JB Bruggeman completed a highly improbable cross field pass through two defenders to fellow senior Nick Lion, who ripped it past the Vikings keeper, giving BCP a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute, the eventual final score.
“I have to give JB a lot of credit for that ball,” said Lion. “The fact that he picked me out and the way he played it was just perfect. If the defender didn’t touch it, it would’ve gone too far. If he played it a little too soft, he would’ve picked it off. It was just perfectly played in.”
From there on out, the Bells’ defense silenced the Vikings, allowing only three shots the entire game, and only one of those was on goal.
“We know that we are not prolific scorers,” said coach Don Briggs. “We get close but we don’t get the shot off. We are right near the top of the box and guys are just always waiting for the perfect shot.”
The loss marks the end of Palo Alto’s season, which included a SCVAL–De Anza division title in addition to the fourth seed in Division I of the CCS Playoffs. The Vikings finished with a 14-4-3 record.
“They had a great year,” said Briggs. “I told them that league is the most important because it represents a body of their work for the entire season. (CCS) is kind of icing on the cake.”
The Bells (14-4-4) continue on to play top-seeded Menlo-Atherton in the semifinal round. The Bears are coming off an impressive 4-1 victory over Alvarez and currently boast a 16-3-0 record.
“We’re just going to prepare as best as we can and I’m just going to control the controllable,” said Johnson. “Something we want to improve on is our organization defensively. We’re going to look at the film, but at this point we are just sharpening everything.”
Spectators will be able to see how sharp the Bells are on Wednesday against MA. Kickoff is set for 4:30 p.m. at Milpitas High School.
