On a perfect Saturday afternoon for football at J.B. Murphy Field in San Francisco, the Bellarmine Bells claimed sole possession of first place in their WCAL by sticking to their dominant running game along with a tenacious defense to defeat the St. Ignatius Wildcats 35-28.
Things didn't start well for the Bells (7-1, 5-0 WCAL), who were coming off a hard-fought victory against St. Francis last week in a game in which Joey Sanfilippo rushed for two touchdowns. The Wildcats (6-2, 4-1), who were coming off a much easier victory against Riordan, unleashed their strong defensive line on Bellarmine, forcing a fumble from junior quarterback KJ Carta-Samuels.
St. Ignatius recovered on the Bellarmine 15-yard line, and on its first offensive play, quarterback Jack Stinn, coming off a two-touchdown performance against Riordan, hooked up with 6-foot-5 wide receiver Andrew Vollert for a 15-yard score. Less than four minutes in, the upstart Wildcats led, 7-0.
The Bells went right back to their trusty running game with multiple runs by Carta-Samuels, Sanfilippo, and running back Kenneth Olugbode. The drive was finished off by a 38-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Carta-Samuels to Sanfilippo to pull the Bells to within 7-6 with 10:48 left in the second quarter.
In the early stages of the game, St. Ignatius tried to open its passing game against the Bells, but a deflected pass by Bellarmine defensive tackle Alex Abiog fell into the arms of Sanfilippo and was run back to the Wildcats’ 30 yard line. Carta-Samuels capped off the drive with a three-yard touchdown run along with a two-point conversion pass to Olugbode to give Bellarmine a 14-7 lead with 5:39 left in the second quarter.
After a failed drive for St. Ignatius, the Bells charged down the field again with a 79-yard drive finished off by Carta-Samuels finding receiver Jared Vallner for a 35-yard TD pass to put Bellarmine ahead 21-7 at the half.
The Wildcats started to find their offensive rhythm in their first drive of the second half with Stinn completing multiple passes to Vollert along with strong runs by running back Elijah Dale. Dale scored from one yard out to bring the Wildcats closer, 21-14.
On their next drive, the Bells marched down the field with quarterback Carta-Samuels finishing the drive with a four-yard keeper for the score to put the Bells ahead 28-14 with 2:50 left in the third quarter.
St. Ignatius started the ensuing drive on its 20-yard line and on the very first play from scrimmage, running back Albert Waters ran down the sideline for an 80-yard touchdown to cut Bellarmine's lead to 28-21.
To start the fourth quarter, the Wildcats began to build momentum, but cornerback Jaden Sawyer picked off a Stinn pass intended for Vollert to give the ball back to the Bells. On the next drive, Bellarmine again ran its way to the end zone with running back Sanfilippo scoring on a 29-yard touchdown to extend the Bells’ lead to 35-21.
On fourth-and-goal, quarterback Stinn kept SI alive by hooking up with Vollert one more time to pull the Wildcats within 35-28 with 3:56 left in the game. The Bells ran out the clock and came out with a decisive victory that puts them in a good position to win WCAL and be one of the top-seeded teams in the upcoming CCS Open Division playoffs. Bellarmine will play on the hill next Friday night (7:30 pm), travelling to Valley Christian. St. Ignatius, which is still in good shape for a CCS Open Division berth, travels to San Mateo for a Saturday afternoon (2 pm) matchup at against Serra (7-1, 4-1) in a battle for second place.
