SAN JOSE - In a rematch of last year’s CCS Open Division Championship, Bellarmine and St. Ignatius played under the lights at San Jose City College once again, but the outcome of the game was a bit different. Bellarmine’s offense was efficient as the Bells led the entire game en route to a 42-28 victory.
St. Ignatius had defeated Bellarmine 13-10 in overtime in last year's title game.
The Bells scored first on a 29-yard touchdown pass from KJ Carta-Samuels to Anthony Guttadauro with 6:18 left in the first quarter.
Bellarmine’s biggest offensive play of the night came early in the fourth quarter when Carta-Samuels found sophomore Kyle Macauley deep down the field for 91 yards to put the Bells up 35-14. The Elite 11 quarterback finished the night going 7-for-11 for 191 yards and two touchdowns through the air, as well as rushing for 66 yards.
“Our line was doing a pretty good job and there were open holes all night and we just had to find them as running backs,” said Carta-Samuels. “Our passing game worked a little bit and we got the deep play going, had two bombs for touchdowns. It just seemed we were clicking more on offense today.”
Following his three-touchdown performance last week against St. Francis, Anthony Guttadauro came out ready to play again, rushing for 58 yards and a touchdown on top of his first quarter touchdown catch.
“I just run hard and follow my blocks, the offensive line gives me holes and I just run hard,” said Guttadauro. “On that pass, they were playing a zone and K.J. throws perfect balls and I just strolled into the end zone.”
St. Ignatius, which only put up seven points through the first three quarters, really lit up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 of their 28 points in the game's final 12 minutes.
“I think we just settled down,” said coach John Regalia. “Our guys just had to settle down a little bit, look at the adjustments we needed to make here and there. We did run the ball a little better, did have some big plays, which was nice. We were able to get Elijah Dale and Joe Lang out in space and got a special teams score.”
That special teams score came from Lang in the fourth quarter when he returned a punt 61 yards for a touchdown midway through the final period. Lang also rushed for 35 yards and caught five passes for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Besides Dale, who had one touchdown and 94 yards rushing, junior quarterback Ryan Hagfeldt shined for the Wildcats, passing for 194 yards and two touchdowns on 25 attempts. Hagfelt also threw an interception in the first half and was sacked twice on the night.
With the loss, Saint Ignatius falls to 1-5 (1-2).
“We take it one week at a time. We’re not looking back, we’re really looking forwards and I love our group of guys because they’ve stayed true to that all year and that’s not going to change,” said Regalia. “The best part about the WCAL is that there are no down weeks. We just have to get back to work on Monday and get ready for Serra.”
Bellarmine improves to 5-1 (2-1) and continues, for the most part, to improve with every game.
“We had our best offensive execution of the year by far. Threw the ball, caught the ball as good as we have all year. We blocked better, ran the ball better. The thing we didn’t do very well is tackle,” said coach Mike Janda.
St. Ignatius’ schedule only gets tougher as it takes on Serra next Saturday afternoon at 1. Bellarmine meets Valley Christian at 7 p.m. Friday at SJCC.
