St. Ignatius solid in opener

St. Ignatius’ openingnight 28-7 win at Palo Alto Friday night was particularly significant, said coach John Regalia.

Not for the team’s 21 unanswered points to close things, superb opening drive, solid quarterbacking by senior Aidan Smith or excellent defense, which included a 22-yard pick-6 by Oliver Bligh.

Regalia was simply happy that his 59 Wildcats got on a bus, made the 35-mile trip and had a competitive game with the Vikings.

“A lot of players and coaches and fans didn’t get to play at all,” said Regalia, noting the more than 20 games canceled or postponed in the Bay Area on Friday due to poor air quality from Northern California wildfires. “We’re super grateful to play a game with great hosts like Palo Alto.” Many postponed Friday games were rescheduled for Saturday, including No. 1 De La Salle-Concord at St. Mary’s-Stockton for a morning kickoff. Smoke was too thick in the morning, so the game was moved to Concord for a 5 p.m. start.

St. Ignatius turned its gratefulness into an immediate score, taking the opening kickoff and driving 75 yards, capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Ronan Greene. Smith, who threw for 175 yards and a score on the night, completed six passes on the opening drive.

Palo Alto tied it at 7-7 on a 20-yard TD pass from Danny Peters to Brody Simison. Then Smith connected with tight end Oliver Stuart for a 12-yard TD for St. Ignatius just before the half. Bligh put the Wildcats in complete command with his interception return before Keith Reyes broke left for a 19-yard rushing touchdown midway through the fourth to put it away.

More Friday games: Ben Pfaff carried 20 times for 207 yards and four scores and Wade Smith accounted for 282 yards and three scores as Bellarmine stunned No. 8 Menlo-Atherton 56-41 at San Jose City College. The game featured more than 1,000 yards of offense. Jeremiah Earby and Dane Fifita scored three touchdowns each for the Bears. … Michael Ingrassia accounted for 220 yards and the game’s only touchdown, leading No. 9 Marin Catholic-Kentfield to a 6-0 win at No. 19 El Cerrito. … Adam Harper threw for 211 yards and three touchdowns, one going to Robbie Mascheroni, who had six catches for 202 yards, as No. 12 Campolindo-Moraga rolled to a 56-21 win at Moreau CatholicHayward. Max Rittmann rushed nine times for 127 yards and a score. … Three Academic Athletic Athletic teams dropped openers: Mission (14-0 to Oakland Tech), Lincoln (16-3 to Jefferson-Daly City) and Galileo (66-0 to Santa Clara).

SATURDAY

#1 De La Salle-Concord 52, St. Mary’s-Stockton 16: A game scheduled in Stockton that was moved to De La Salle due to poor air quality saw the Spartans score 35 unanswered points in the second half to extend their unbeaten streak against teams North of Clovis to 317 games. Zeke Barber (eight carries, 129 yards) and Charles Greer (6-91) rushed for two touchdowns each for the Spartans, who allowed just two first downs and 26 total yards after intermission. Tyler Henry recovered a fumble in the end zone after a sack to give DLS a 17-10 lead, but St. Mary’s came right back on a 26-yard touchdown pass from Cruz Herrera to Brooks Wheatley.

#20 Sacred Heart PrepAtherton 28, Sacred Heart Cathedral 21: After a scoreless first half, the teams traded one big play after another, before Andrew Latu scored the winning touchdown for the home team on a 4-yard run with 58 seconds to play. He started the scoring with a 70-yard run to open the second half.

Sacred Heart Cathedral drove down to the Gators’ 20, but a fourth-down pass fell incomplete. There were four touchdowns in the final 5:48.