SACRAMENTO, CA - Through most of the evening, there was a 100 percent chance of rain at Sacramento State University, the host site for the CIF Division I-AA state championship. And by the middle of the third quarter, the probability of a Mission Viejo win kept pace with the rain forecast.
Bellarmine, hot off its stunning upset of Folsom in the NorCal championship, was unable to pull off a second straight upset in an attempt for its first CIF championship, falling 24-0 to Mission Viejo.
“It feels awesome," Mission Viejo head coach Bob Johnson said. "It's fun to see kids and young players get like this."
Mission Viejo out-hit and out-hustled the Bells all night, shutting out a team that averaged over 30 points per game. The Diablos also held the Bells to a mere 51 yards on 49 plays.
The defense was led by the Schooler brothers, Colin (9 tackles) and Brenden (7 tackles).
“This is my happy place - on the field,” said Colin.
The Bells only made it as far as the Mission Viejo 20-yard line on one occasion.
Equally impressive was the Diablo offense. The old school ground-and-pound style was encouraged by the heavy rain, but that didn’t stop QB Brock Johnson from throwing two touchdown passes, including a 40-yard bomb to Austin Osborne.
When they did run the ball, the Diablos were close to unstoppable, as the put up 248 total rush yards, 224 of those coming from Colin Schooler.
“I’m just so thankful that I get to share tonight with my brother and my teammates. It feels amazing,” said Schooler, who added 32 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Bellarmine was outmatched by Mission, but the defense still flashed the form that has made it so successful this season. The linebacker core of Josh Bringuel, Jackson Burrill, and Jacob Bergstrom had 11, 10, and six tackles respectively, while Kyle Macauley and Antonio Garcia both had interceptions.
“We knew they were big and strong and fast – physical. They’re a very, very fine football team,” said Bell head coach Mike Janda.
The Diablos bedeviled the Bellarmine offense all night as the run-based offense only produced seven total rushing yards all game. Troy Martig had 15 rush attempts for only one yard. In places where Bellarmine usually finds themselves beating other teams around the edge and in straight foot races, Mission Viejo was right there with them, step for step.
One highlight of Bellarmine’s game was its special teams. The Bells blocked two PATs and stopped both two-point conversion attempts from the Diablos. Also, punter Jack Geiger had nine punts, averaging 35.4 yards a punt.
This was the last game for the seniors of both teams, and while no one wants to, someone has to lose. But, the Bells have nothing to hang their heads about. They won the CCS, WCAL, and NorCal championships. They simply came up to a team that was better, stronger, and faster than any team they played before.
“I’ll remember the exciting wins that we had and the fact that we played hard start to finish every ball game," said Janda.
The Bells finished the season 13-2 and Mission Viejo became the first-ever CIF team to finish 16-0.
