SAN FRANCISCO — A Bruce-Mahoney sport that started with the annual reminder of sportsmanlike conduct ended with the gamers and coaches from each groups needing to be separated by faculty directors after coming face-to-face at midfield.
St. Ignatius managed the sport simply because it has the rivalry that dates again past 1900, and Wildcats gamers needed to have fun their 23-14 win with a photograph on the sector. They shook fingers with their foes from Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral, rushed again to their sideline after which towards midfield.
That’s when the Fightin’ Irish took exception.
Whereas St. Ignatius coach JuJuan Lawson mentioned the postgame photograph on the sector is a practice for the profitable group, his counterpart on the Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral sideline, Antoine Evans, mentioned the way in which they went about it was “completely unprofessional.”
“Some bickering occurred, some argument occurred, they mentioned some stuff, we mentioned some stuff,” Lawson mentioned. “It’s a rivalry for a motive.”
Traditionally, the rivalry has been one-sided, with St. Ignatius claiming 16 of twenty-two matchups since 2004 and greater than two-thirds of their 103 complete conferences. If there was ever a time for Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral to steal one, it was this 12 months, with each groups coming into the ultimate week of the common season 2-4 in West Catholic Athletic League play.
St. Ignatius, nonetheless, opened a 17-0 lead by halftime and didn’t let the Irish get inside a rating after senior quarterback Caedon Afsharipour put them up 10-0 late within the first quarter along with his first of two eventual landing passes. Afsharipour checked all the way down to his working again, junior Luke Tribolet, who streaked down the sideline 34 yards into the top zone with 1:38 to play within the opening quarter.
Afsharipour added a 59-yard landing heave on third-and-6 to senior receiver Zui Shelton, who bought free behind the protection and was ready for the deep ball when it arrived close to the aim line. The quarterback completed with 165 yards by the air and used his legs to choose up a pair of first downs.
“He’s labored a protracted, laborious street to get to this second,” Lawson mentioned of his quarterback, who he has coached since he was 10 years outdated. Afsharipour, nonetheless, solely transferred again into this system this 12 months from Marin Catholic and spent the primary half of the season coping with accidents.
“I imply, it’s an superior win,” mentioned Afsharipour, who wasn’t sacked as soon as. “The dudes did an superior job making ready tonight. We’re not on the lookout for this to be the spotlight, although. We need to maintain going. However this one is completely candy.”
The spotlight of Afsharipour’s evening didn’t contain any move that left his fingers however somewhat the one which he hauled in — including a 3rd landing to his stat line to go up 23-14 early within the third quarter. With the ball on the 11-yard line, Lawson dialed up a trick play the group had been practising since July.
Its title? “CMC,” Lawson mentioned. “For Christian McCaffrey.”
Afsharipour handed the ball off for what a sweep, however he took off for the top zone and the working again pitched the ball again to senior receiver Jake Batchelder, who threw a strike to Afsharipour previous the pylons.
“I didn’t assume I might ever do this; I couldn’t consider I even made it to the pylon,” Afsharipour mentioned. “Jake threw me an superior ball. I get the landing, however there are such a lot of guys that make that play occur.”
Defensively, St. Ignatius allowed SHC’s senior working again Legend Williams to interrupt off a first-down run for 10 yards on his first handoff of the evening, then contained him to nothing however incremental beneficial properties till time was already winding down. Williams, who wanted 184 yards to achieve 1,000 for the season, completed with 91.
The Wildcats additionally pressured two interceptions from senior quarterback Michael Sargent, each into the fingers of senior Ty Hicks.
“You alter the look persistently and also you do it properly, it makes for a tough day for him. That’s all we had been hoping for,” Lawson mentioned of Sargent, who accomplished 5 of 6 passes on SHC’s opening drive of the second half to chop the deficit to 17-6. “You’re not going to cease him; you solely hope to sluggish him down. He’s an amazing participant on the finish of the day.”
Sacred Coronary heart Cathedral was ranked greater within the Bay Space Information Group’s newest ballot and was favored by HSRatings.com.
Relating to the Bruce-Mahoney matchup, nonetheless, “we all know you throw the data out the window,” Evans mentioned.
“On this sport, something occurs. As a coach, you attempt to strategy this sport even-keeled and attempt to get your guys to remain centered. We made some key errors, they made some large performs, and also you see the consequence. I informed my guys, it’s powerful. However we are able to’t let this outline us. We’ve bought to maneuver ahead. We’ve bought a sport subsequent week.”
