After a strong win over San Leandro last week, the Bellarmine Bells continued their offensive excellence with a 56-7 win over Piedmont Hills Friday night.
Senior running back Joey Sanfilippo led the offense with more than 250 yards of total offense and four touchdowns.
"It felt good," Sanfilippo said. "I owe it obviously to the line, and to K.J. (Carta-Samuels, the quarterback), and Dan Brown, and everyone blocking for me. After the De La Salle loss, we came back and we didn’t like that feeling, so we’re just going to strive to keep winning.”
The game started off rough for the Bells with senior running back Jalen Williams running the ball 79 yards down the sideline for a score to put Piedmont Hills ahead 7-0.
The Bells didn’t want a repeat of the De La Salle game two weeks ago and the offense struck early and often.
Sanfilippo caught a 52-yard scoring pass from Carta-Samuels in the next series and the score was tied 7-7.
After a strong defensive stand, Sanfilippo returned a punt 74 yards for another Bellarmine touchdown to put the Bells ahead 14-7.
Later, with Bellarmine leading 21-7, Carta-Samuels hooked up with Sanfilippo again for a 57-yard touchdown to give Bellarmine a 28-7 lead.
Sanfilippo finished his night off by finding the gaps in the defense and rushing 89 yards down the sideline for a touchdown.
Bellarmine coach Mike Janda loved the quick start.
“I think we started really fast and we needed to do that," he said. "We gave up a quick touchdown, but offensively came back and continued the momentum from there on out.”
The Bellarmine defense, led by returning senior starter Domenic Luca, stifled the Piedmont Hills offense all night, limiting them to short passes and runs.
The Bells also did a great job applying pressure on Piedmont Hills junior quarterback Anthony McBride and giving him little time to find his receivers.
Bell senior Kenneth Olugbode was very pleased with the rushing offense and the pass defense.
“The O-line did great," he said. "We finally accomplished our 300 yards of rushing. And the D-line did great also. Dom Luca was in there every play, hitting the quarterback.”
When asked about the goals for the bye week, Olugbode said, “Just get ready and prepare for league. (League) is a big test and we got to be ready for it.”
Bellarmine (2-1) is now off until hosting Archbishop Riordan on Sept. 28. Piedmont Hills (1-2) will also have a bye before hosting Leland the same day.
