GILROY — For all of the uncertainty surrounding the CCS Quarterfinals, which were delayed over the course of a week and bounced from venue to venue, the actual game between Sacred Heart Prep and St. Ignatius went just about as expected, with the second-seeded Gators squeaking out a 13-7 win behind stingy defense.
“We talked all week about whenever the game was, wherever the game was, just being ready to play,” said head coach Mark Grieb.
Sacred Heart Prep (10-1) reached the end zone just once, with a drive that was set up with good field position by a safety, but by controlling the line of scrimmage and letting the Wildcats reach the red zone just twice, it was enough to advance to the semifinals and set up a showdown with sixth-seeded Sacred Heart Cathedral.
The safety was the game’s opening score, coming after a punt and a holding penalty pinned St. Ignatius (3-8) at the 8-yard line midway through the first quarter. After a three-yard loss, the handoff on the following play was fumbled, and after multiple Gator defenders failed to secure the ball in the end zone, Mark Biggins was able to fall on it for SI.
While the safety was preferential to allowing a touchdown at the moment, the free kick then went out of bounds and set the Gators up at the SI 45. The Wildcat defense responded immediately with a stop, but on fourth-and-3, Tevita Moimoi lined up in the upback position, took the snap and ran the fake punt for five yards and a fresh set of downs. While he had significantly bigger gains on his 110-yard afternoon, it was by far his biggest carry as it set up the lone SHP touchdown. Raymond Price III completed just five passes on the day, and the lone touchdown was a short completion to Tommy Barnds, who picked up most of the 22 yards after contact. A two-point conversion from Price to Thomas Hardy would make it 10-0.
Biggins would have his fingerprints all over the lone SI touchdown, setting up great field position with a 32-yard punt return, even though half of it was wiped out by a holding penalty. After a third-and-16 conversion with a 24-yard pass from Zach Taylor-Smith to Bryan Blake, Biggins scored on a three-yard sweep to put the Wildcats on the board.
Ultimately, it was an injury to Biggins that would have the most damaging effects on the Wildcats. Though SHP wouldn’t score again before halftime, with Ronan Donnelly narrowly missing field goal attempts of 44 and 57 yards, perhaps the biggest play of the entire game transpired with 11 seconds left in the half, when Biggins suffered a head injury on an 11-yard run by Price.
Without Biggins in the second half, the SI offense was completely neutralized. Jahsai Shannon finished with 43 yards on 11 carries against a stout SHP run defense, but facing an already-difficult opponent without their top weapon, the Wildcats would only threaten to score twice in the second half.
After Donnelly’s 32-yarder stretched the lead to 13-7 with 7:19 left in the third, St. Ignatius would embark on a solid drive, with a nine-yard run by Cormac Gallagher, a 24-yard completion to Blake to get across midfield and a 14-yard catch-and-run by Matt Rosen, but after reaching the SHP 25, a William Peterson interception would prevent any further progress. A blocked punt would set up the final SI opportunity at the Gator 20 with 6:36 left, but the offense would only go backwards before missing a 39-yard field goal.
To try to cut the lead in half with just 4:33 left was understandable with a defense that had been so proficient and all three timeouts remaining, but the Wildcats would never see the ball again. Moimoi got over the century mark with the last five of his 16 carries and sent his team into the semifinals by picking up all three first downs that were needed to run out the clock.
“What a great way to finish the game,” said Grieb.
Though it wasn’t what one would label as a prolific performance by the SHP offense, it was enough to get the job done. Repeated pass breakups by Teddye Buchanan and Jack Hagfeldt kept Price under 50% passing, but he did have 74 rushing yards on eight carries. Barnds had a 27-yard run on a sweep in the third quarter, which Moimoi matched on the following play to set up Donnelly’s field goal.
As for St. Ignatius, Taylor-Smith completed nine passes for 90 yards, with the two 24-yard completions accounting for both of Blake’s receptions.
