SAN FRANCISCO — St. Ignatius noticed the top of its yr quick approaching. Down 12 factors on the half with no landing scored but, the Wildcats sat of their locker room in want of a spark.
That’s when senior receiver Ryan Ragoni-Maddock spoke up, reminding his teammates that a whole season was on the road within the second half. This couldn’t be the seniors’ last recreation, he stated. It was simply the spark they wanted.
“We got here out with a special sort of motivation within the second half,” quarterback Soren Hummel stated. “This might have been the final recreation for lots of our seniors and we couldn’t have that. That was my motivation.”
The Wildcats stormed their house area once more for the second half and put up 21 unanswered factors to defeat Half Moon Bay 24-15 within the first spherical of the Central Coast Part Division II playoffs on a chilly Friday night time at J.B. Murphy Subject. They’ll play Aptos for the primary time since 2014 within the semifinals subsequent week.
“Our applications have a historical past. The present gamers don’t know the historical past,” head coach John Regalia stated. “The truth is, they’re good. They’re good this yr and good at what they do. They’re a system-based offense so that they’re going to have our full consideration.”
St. Ignatius had its fingers full with a Cougars’ system that runs an awesome speeding assault that makes use of blocking schemes and tough handoffs to run up lengthy drives. Half Moon Bay’s first drive took eight minutes that started with a go to Peter Valdez in the midst of the primary quarter and ended with quarterback Liam Harrington’s seven-yard landing scamper to start out the second quarter.
After a profitable two-point conversion that put Half Moon Bay up 8-3, St. Ignatius couldn’t reply, going three-and-out on one drive and turning the ball over on downs in its subsequent possession. The Cougars bled the half out with one other lengthy drive by which Harrington transformed a 32-yard go down the sideline to arrange PJ Modena for a speeding landing.
The Cougars speeding assault — with just a few display screen performs and exact passes — punished the Wildcats’ protection. They'd a 15-3 lead on the half. St. Ignatius had gotten a really feel for Half Moon Bay’s scheme and, together with slightly motivation, got here again within the second half with a plan.
They shifted their defensive scheme and attacked the Cougars’ secondary extra within the second half to even out the lopsided time of possession depend.
“We had 16 performs within the first half,” Regalia stated. “Which is a part of what occurred with us. They management the clock. Very first thing was to keep up possession.”
Gamers made massive performs, too. Senior defensive lineman Santino Franco and their line of defense got here up with some massive stops to stuff the Cougars’ runs. Sophomore operating again Jarious Hogan’s lengthy landing run was erased by a penalty. However Hummel discovered receiver Gus Parker for a 22-yard completion to arrange Hogan’s four-yard speeding landing to make it 15-10.
The Wildcats compelled a three-and-out, then sniffed out a faux punt to pressure a turnover on downs on the HMB 40-yard line. Then Hummel discovered tight finish Con McKeon for a 23-yard completion and Hummel ran the ball in for a landing to provide St. Ignatius a 17-15 lead.
Half Moon Bay appeared like they'd a solution. Harrington discovered senior receiver Dio Lucido for giant yardage down the sideline to transform on third down. Franco sacked Harrington on second down and, on third-and-nine, Harrington’s go try to Connor Heath was decided to have hit the bottom after a short dialogue between officers with a lot of enter from the house crowd.
The Cougars punted on fourth down.
Hogan iced the sport with an 80-yard speeding landing to increase the Wildcats’ result in 24-15. Half Moon Bay had no solutions.