Junior tailback Elijah Dale raced around left end on his team's first offensive play of overtime and sixth-seeded St. Ignatius stunned No. 1 Bellarmine, 13-10, in overtime to capture the CCS Open Division Championship Friday night at San Jose City College. It was the second section championship in a row for St. Ignatius, which captured the Division III title last season. The season comes to a shocking end for the Bells (11-2), who had an 11-game winning streak snapped.
“After playing Mitty last week, one of their guys, (Daniel) Mosko, Facebook-messaged me and said, ‘Do what we never got to do. Beat Bellarmine,’” said St. Ignatius senior quarterback Jack Stinn, who completed 6 of 13 passes for 118 yards. “And I realized, I never beat Bellarmine either. We just did it for every team who hasn’t. It was awesome.”
After St. Ignatius held Bellarmine to a field goal on the opening possession of overtime, Dale (10 carries, 71 yards, 2 TDs) took a pitch from Stinn and raced into the end zone to give the Wildcats the victory. Taking shelter from the overpowering SI offensive line, Dale got close enough to leap into the end zone for the CCS Championship.
“I just told the whole line that I was following them. I wasn’t going to make any cuts, or do anything different, and the game was on their backs,” said Dale. “That was a huge push, and there was a huge hole. I could have jogged in.”
The Bells had a third-and-goal opportunity from the St. Ignatius 2-yard line to start overtime, but back-to-back false start penalties forced the ball back to the 12. Quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels hit running back Kenneth Olugbode on a screen pass, but he was gang-tackled at the 4, setting up a 21-yard field goal by Grant Bush to make it 10-7.
“We got off the ball, and we stopped the initial,” said St. Ignatius senior lineman August Peters. “Across the board, our defensive linebackers played incredibly well. There’s too much will in this team to not stop them at the end zone and to not come away with the win.”
Late in regulation time, the Bells had a chance to take the lead, but St. Ignatius executed a goal-line stand with a minute to go to force overtime. Facing a fourth down with the ball on the SI 3, Bellarmine coach Mike Janda opted to go for the touchdown rather than a short field goal, because of the steep angle of the kick, an earlier miss from 37 yards, and the opportunity for Saint Ignatius to tie the game again with the remaining time on the clock.
“It was a tough call. The players really felt like they could drive the ball in, and we felt confident we could get the yard,” said Janda. “But they did a great job. SI made the big play, so congratulations to them.”
Ultimately, after some controversy on whether or not Olugbode was pushed out of the end zone after the play ended, Bellarmine’s drive was stopped just inches short of the goal line. The Wildcats were then able to run out the clock in regulation from just outside their own goal line.
“We were hoping he was in. It was our best player with our best play,” continued Janda. “We were on the threshold of winning the championship. We just didn’t quite get it done.”
Bellarmine scored on the opening possession of the game, marching 75 yards on a nearly eight-minute drive to take a 7-0 lead. Carta-Samuels capped the drive with a two-yard run; however, the Bells lost speedy running back Joey Sanfilippo to an apparent calf injury on a run that set up the touchdown. Sanfilippo did not return, leaving the Bells without their top speed threat on offense.
After multiple fumbles, punts, and turnovers, St. Ignatius was able to score with 6:49 left in the game, when the Wildcats offense embarked on a 10-play, 71-yard drive that featured the speedster Dale prominently. A 12-yard run by Dale - similar to the winning touchdown but to the right side - took the ball down to the Bellarmine 1. Dale then powered in for the score to make it 7-7 with 6:49 left in regulation.
Defenses reigned supreme for most of the night, but a pair of penalties proved costly for each team in potential scoring situations. St. Ignatius executed a nifty fake punt in the first half with punter/wide receiver Joe Lang completing a pass to Moore Harris for an apparent first down, but the play was called back because of an ineligible man downfield. Later, Bellarmine had a successful 4th-and-8 conversion called back on a holding call to negate a 15-yard run by Carta-Samuels that would have put the ball on the SI 15.
In the entire game, Bellarmine committed four holding penalties for a total of 40 yards and two false starts for 5 yards each. SI, on the other hand, committed seven encroachment penalties for a total of 35 yards, two ineligible receiver penalties for a total of 10 yards, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for 15 yards, and a roughing the passer penalty for 15 yards also.
Because of Bellarmine’s missing players and the rain, the Bells weren’t able to pass much, as quarterback Carta-Samuels completed just two passes for a total of 28 yards, both to junior Austin Changras. Moreover, because of Sanfilippo’s injury early in the game, he was only able to carry the ball three times for 21 yards. Carta-Samuels led the team in rushing yards with 106 yards on 22 carries, while Olgubode ran for 71 yards on 18 carries.
As champions of the Open Division, the Wildcats (10-3) are now eligible for the Northern California play-in game for the right to play in a state bowl game.
“This is the first Open Division Championship for our school, and there are opportunities that come with that,” said Stinn. “Hopefully, we get a regional bid or even go to state. We’ll see.”
