RICHMOND, CA - The St. Bernard's Crusaders hit the road and were all business in a huge 71-40 playoff win over the Salesian Pride on Saturday afternoon, lifting the Crusaders into the North Coast Section championship game for the second straight season.
It was senior quarterback Jack Rice who got the momentum rolling early in the first quarter with a big 41-yard touchdown run to get the scoring started. Two drives later, after the Crusaders forced a turnover, Rice added a three-yard touchdown run, and he added another scoring run before the end of the first half.
Rice did more than just run the ball, as he completed touchdown passes in the first half to Bryce Gratz and Micha Fontenot-Cornely. The second half was more of the same, as Rice accounted for his sixth touchdown of the day on a 32-yard scoring run. For the game, Rice completed 13 passes for 198 yards and the two touchdowns, along with 17 carries for 217 yards and four scores.
“I just kept preaching to play as a family and stay playing like a family, and go out there and play your heart out," Rice said. "There was no one guy that got this win, my o-line blocking and my receivers blocking allowed me to have the game I had.”
Senior Isaac Drake had two touchdowns of his own for the Crusaders, on a three-yard run in the first half and a 15-yard jaunt in the second half.
“There was a huge difference playing on turf compared to grass," Drake said, referring to the different playing conditions opposed to the fields back up north. "I felt so much faster."
Senior running back Raequan Washington joined the scoring action with a one-yard touchdown run of his own, junior running back and linebacker Garrison Roach also reached the end zone on a three-yard touchdown run.
“We told our kids to play together as a family, We knew the only way we would win this game was if all 11 players played hard every play," said St. Bernard's coach Matt Tomlin. "Today we won because of the five guys up front in our o-line. That was the most dominant o-line performance we have had in my four years at St. Bernard's.”
The host Pride were down the whole game but that didn't stop senior quarterback Jaylen Tregle from putting up five touchdowns of his own, three rushing and two passing. A big killer for the Pride was the fact that St. Bernard's recovered five onside kicks.
“You have to give St. Bernard's credit for the recovery of those onside kicks. Anytime you can start your offense in your opponents' territory it really helps out,” said Salesian coach Chad Nightingale. “We are a very young team and hopefully that will be beneficial for us in the future.”
Salesian is almost half sophomores, with plenty of key juniors as well, and the Pride shocked many people making it as far as they did, leading the Salesian coaching staff to be very optimistic about the coming years.
St. Bernard's advances to the NCS Division 4 championship game, which will be on Saturday, December 3 at Rancho Cotate High School against top-seed Cardinal Newman. Newman lost last year's title game to Marin Catholic, while the Crusaders captured the Division 5 title a year ago.
"Playing (Cardinal Newman) has been our goal since the beginning of the season," Tomlin added. "Now we get to play Goliath."
