The Carson Civil War of 2008 - Battle 3: The St. Bonaventure Blitzkrieg

The Carson Civil War of 2008
Battle 3
The St. Bonaventure Blitzkrieg

vs.

Cardinal-Newman (Santa Rosa) vs. St. Bonaventure (Ventura)

6 28

The first of three games I attended last night, St. Bonaventure was a team my Lakewood Lancers faced a few years ago. We won that game, but this year's team would have given us fits. Nonetheless, this was a third straight victory for the South.

From the Ventura County Star and Santa Rosa Press-Democrat.

Secondary delivers first-rate performance

By Loren Ledin (Contact)
Sunday, December 21, 2008

CARSON — St. Bonaventure High defensive backfield coach Andy Gibson has a special nickname for his guys in the secondary.

"I call them the jet fighters," said Gibson. "With their speed, the way they attack and hang with anybody, that's what they are."

Amidst the postgame celebration on the football field at the Home Depot Center, he offered visual representation. Gibson extended his arms horizontally to simulate a flying aircraft.

"They even do this in the pregame warmups to get ready," Gibson said with a broad smile. "They get ready to attack."

On Saturday, with the Seraphs seeking the perfect ending to another stellar season, the secondary shot holes in Cardinal Newman's vaunted pass offense.

The Seraphs limited the high-flying Cardinals to just a pair of field goals, sacked quarterback Randy Wright five times and yielded just 127 passing yards en route to a 28-6 victory in the CIF State Division III championship bowl game.

Even for a program that has piled up eight CIF-Southern Section crowns in the past 10 years, including the last two in the Northern Division, there are more worlds to conquer.

St. Bonaventure, on the heels of last year's victory in the same Division III game, becomes the first California high school team in the modern era to win two bowl games.

"I never would have believed," said Troy Hill, a junior cornerback and two-year starter. "To win two bowl games is an amazing feeling."

Fellow cornerback J.B. Dock happily concurred.

"It was our goal to go back to back in bowl victories," the senior said. "I can't imagine a better way to go out as a high school player than to win another bowl game."

Hill and Dock, the starting cornerbacks, and safeties Tim Bennett and Joe Luna played a vital role in the happy finale.

Entering Saturday's matchup, Cardinal Newman's spread offense had amassed 544 points en route to a 13-0 record, including the North Coast Section Division II championship. Wright, the 6-foot-2 senior quarterback, had completed an impressive 70 percent of his passes while piling up 2,571 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Against the Seraphs, the Cardinals hit a stone wall.

"We knew they were going to test us, and come after us often," said Dock. "What we wanted to do was give up nothing behind us. We really didn't want to give up anything.

"We really played with a lot of confidence, because we've really done the job all season."

Hill said the Seraphs' big asset — prohibitive team speed — proved to be the difference.

"With our speed, we feel like we can make all the plays and get to the ball just as well as any receiver," he said. "We feel like we can stop anybody."

Dylan Davis, the Seraphs' junior linebacker and top tackler, said he is surrounded by playmakers.

"Our defensive line gives such a great push," he said. "They deserve a lot of the credit. But our secondary guys can cover anybody. Not many guys are going to get open."

Cardinal Newman running back Jeff Badger was impressed.

"That's the best defense we have played against all year," he said. "They have so much team speed."

The secondary proved indomitable in the first half, helping the Seraphs overcome two fumbles and one interception.

The Seraphs' five sacks were all "coverage" sacks, or the fact Wright could find no receivers open.

Cardinal Newman's one long sustained drive covered 76 yards in the first half and reached the St. Bonaventure 5-yard line. But incompletions on second and third down forced the Cardinals to settle for a 22-yard field goal.

At game's end, after turning in a stellar day's work on defense, Dock got his chance for two "carries." He helped carry the ice bucket in the waning seconds that first doused head coach Todd Therrien, and then splashed assistant coach Gibson.

"There is a lot to celebrate," Dock said with a laugh.

St. Bonaventure 28, Cardinal Newman 6

At Home Depot Center, Carson

Cardinal Newman 0 6 0 0— 6

St. Bonaventure 14 0 7 7—28

First quarter

SB — Hall 53 run (Kirk kick), 2:56.

SB — Langkilde 2 run (Kirk kick), 0:21.

Second quarter

CN — FG Wright 22, 7:19.

CN — FG Wright 36, 0:00.

Third quarter

SB — Blackledge 25 run (Kirk kick), 4:18.

Fourth quarter

SB — Gibson 14 pass from Lo. Meyer (Kirk kick), 10:15.

FB Teams Stats: CN SB

First downs 19 17

Rushes-yards 40-127 26-196

Passing yards 127 147

Total yards 254 343

Comp-Att-Int 19-31-0 11-16-1

Punts-avg. 3-22.7 1-49.0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2

Penalties-yards 2-10 5-40

Sacked-yards lost 5-28 0-0

RUSHING — Cardinal Newman: Badger 16-79, Ferguson 13-57, Wright 11-(—9). St. Bonaventure: Blackledge 10-89, Hall 7-78, Schouder 3-25, Langkilde 3-9, Rodarte 2-1, team 1-(—2).

PASSING — Cardinal Newman: Wright 19-31-0-127. St. Bonaventure: Lo. Meyer 10-15-1-140, Kirk 1-1-0-7.

RECEIVING — Cardinal Newman: Amaral 10-69, Miller 3-32, North 2-19, Badger 2-9, Ferguson 2-(—2). St. Bonaventure: Rodarte 4-58, Gibson 3-51, Z. Meyer 1-19, Ledesma 1-9, Langkilde 1-7, Hall .

MISSED FIELD GOALS — None.

TEAM RECORDS — Cardinal Newman 13-1, St. Bonaventure 14-1.

===

Newman loses in state final 28-6 to St. Bonaventure


By RICH RUPPRECHT
PRESS DEMOCRAT

Published: Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 3:17 p.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 7:39 p.m.

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

CARSON — There was no exciting ending, no overtime like the last time. St. Bonaventure of Ventura was that good.

Cardinal Newman stayed close for a half, but failed to score an offensive touchdown for the first time in three years and St. Bonaventure showed off a big-play offense that ended with a 28-6 Seraphs win in the Division III state football championship game Saturday afternoon at the Home Depot Center.

Cardinal Newman started out good, Jonathan Steele causing a fumble on St. Bonaventure’s first possession, but even after putting together long, time-consuming first half drives, the Cardinals were unable to punch the ball into the endzone. Despite dominating the first half clock and running 40 plays to St. Bonaventure’s 19, Newman trailed 14-6 at intermission.

“At halftime I really thought we could win the game,” Newman coach Paul Cronin said. “They were just so fast and we had a small margin of error.”

Newman wide receiver Wade Amaral had a game-high 10 receptions, but for only 69 yards and he was never able to get away from St. Bonaventure’s lightning quick secondary.

“We came out and thought we could hang with them, but that is a really good team,” Amaral said. “We tried to mix it up.”

Newman quarterback Randy Wright didn’t have time to look for second and third receivers. He was sacked five times and hurried his throws frequently. He was 19-of-31 passing for a season-low 127 yards.

“They blitzed a lot and they were all pretty fast,” Wright said.

Jeff Badger, who led all rushers with 81 yards on 16 carries, said he was exhausted at the end of the game, having to play both offense and defense.

“We just got tired,” Badger said. “By far that was the best team we’ve played this season.”

St. Bonaventure game-breaker, back Patrick Hall, who was used sparingly by coach Todd Therrien, scored on the Seraphs’ third possession, looking like a USC tailback, running 53 yards for a touchdown. Actually, Hall has committed to USC as a defensive back.

A poor punt of only five yards by Wright, set up another St. Bonaventure score at the end of the first quarter.

Starting at Newman’s 20, it only took three running plays for the Seraphs to score, ending with a two-yard burst up the middle by fullback Marcus Langkilde.

Newman’s best quarter was easily the second, but the Cardinals could manage just two field goals by Wright.

A 16-play, 81-yard drive ended with Wright kicking a 22-yard field goal.

The next time Newman got the ball, Joe Ferguson rushed for 11 yards and Badger for 16 as the Cardinals drove to St. Bonaventure’s 35. But the next four plays resulted in minus yardage as Wright was sacked on fourth down for a 10-yard loss.

Teyo Green then intercepted Seraphs junior quarterback Logan Meyer and Newman had yet another scoring chance at the end of the first half.

Wright threw two passes to Amaral for 14 yards and Ferguson ran for 11, putting the ball on the 19, but with under 20 seconds to go. Wright threw incomplete and then kicked a 36-yard field goal as time expired.

Cronin said he told the players at the half to keep doing what they did in the first half and try and score on its first possession. It nearly happened.

After 12- and nine-yard completions to Amaral, yet another Newman drive stalled and St. Bonaventure took over on its own 40 as Newman failed to convert on fourth-and long.

“It’s one thing to be third-and-three against that defense and it’s another to be third-and-long all the time,” Cronin said.

St. Bonaventure made it an uphill climb for Newman by scoring again on its first possession of the second half. Big plays were a 24-yard pass from Meyer to Drew Gibson and a 25-yard touchdown run by Devon Blackledge.

St. Bonaventure made it 28-6 early in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard TD pass from Meyer to Gibson.

Newman put together one more impressive drive, Badger having a 10-yard run and Casey Miller a 16-yard reception to highlight it, but Wright was stopped on a hard hit at the seven on third-and-long and Ferguson was thrown for a three-yard loss on fourth down.

Of Newman’s offense, Therrien said, “They were dinking and dunking us (with short passes), but you can only go so far down the field doing that. I thought we played hard and played together. This is one of the best secondaries in the history of St. Bonaventure.”

Newman came here two years ago and lost in overtime to Oaks Christian.

There were tears and plenty of hugs in Newman’s locker room.

“That’s a great team,” Ferguson said. “We were prepared. It was two great teams and someone had to lose. This hurts. We worked hard together for 11½ months and then it just ends.”

“We had to play a near perfect game to win and we didn’t,” said Newman defensive coordinator Dennis Bruno. “It hurts now, it will hurt a little less in a week and a little less in a month. This season there was a lot of pain and a lot of memories.”