SAN JOSE, CA -- Bellarmine College Prep took it to its fellow Jesuit school, St. Ignatius, 42-6 on Friday night at San Jose City College. The Bells, with the victory, clinched at least a share of the WCAL title
If St. Francis defeats host Archbishop Riordan today (kickoff 1 p.m.) at the City College of San Francisco, then the Lancers will share the title with the Bells. The championship is the Bells' first since 2012.
It was the Bells' so-called Legion of Zoom that lifted them to victory.
The “LOZ,” consisting of speedsters Kyle Macauley, Anthony Garcia, Devon Buenrostro, Troy Martig, and Vincent Fernandez, was huge Friday night, accounting for all of Bellarmine’s touchdowns, each with at least one a piece except Martig, who threw for two. They also racked up a combined 329 all-purpose yards.
“That’s what we do. We play fast, just try to keep up,” said Vincent Fernandez amidst laughter. “No, we just run the ball, basically, its just the guys up front, our lineman, that get us to the end zone.”
Also leaving their mark on the game was the Bellarmine defense led by its linebacker core of Jackson Burrill, Jacob Bergstrom, Will Crummy, Antonio Garcia, and Josh Bringuel. Burrill, Bergstrom, and Bringuel had four, 12 and six tackles, respectively. Burrill and Crummy also both had interceptions after dropping into coverage.
“We told them to take away the pass if they could, and they did a great job with it,” said coach Mike Janda.
On the opposite side of the field, St. Ignatius tried to shake off a tough ending to its season that included falling behind big by halftime last week in San Francisco and then struggling against the Bells.
While the passing game was not effective for the Wildcats, St. Ignatius was able to turn to running backs Xaivier Tharpe and Kela Butler to drive the ball. The partnership of Tharpe and Butler was comparatively effective, scoring the team's only points on six running plays at the start of the second half, resulting in an 11-yard TD run from Butler.
“We made some adjustments. Xavier and Kela settled in nicely, and they executed what we wanted them to -- what we worked on all week,” said SI coach John Regalia.
Peter Kats played well on the defensive line for SI, making 10 tackles and recovering a fumble. .
“They did have some great hustle plays on defense,” Janda said. "They cut off some would-be big plays for us.”
“Bellarmine’s really good. They’re a very good team, with a great group of seniors," Regalia said.
Bellarmine will now await the result of Sunday's CCS seeding meeting.
