Bellarmine breaks five-game skid against Valley Christian
SAN JOSE >> Bellarmine football coach Jalal Beauchman looked at his team, which stood circled for the postgame talk late Friday night. Then he charged towards the players and leaped into the cheering group like a baseball player reaching home plate after hitting a walk-off home run.
The game at Valley Christian was certainly a home run for the Bells, who clinched their first winning season since 2016 with a 45-34 victory over the host Warriors. The Bells had lost five straight games to Valley Christian, including three consecutive shutouts.
“Tonight was a battle, and it took everything we had,” Beauchman said. “You have wins like these against very good football teams, it’s special.
“Valley battled their butts off and they made it look like they might be the ones that took this game. They had all the momentum at one point, but we stayed the course, we trusted ourselves, we believed in ourselves and kept responding every time we needed to.”
Bellarmine, which is 14th in the Bay Area News Group rankings, achieved the huge victory without its starting quarterback, Wade Smith.
Beauchman said that Smith suffered a lower leg injury against St. Francis last week and was unable to practice this week.
Nate Escalada stepped in and the junior threw for 179 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 89 yards on seven carries.
Bellarmine never trailed, although its lead was cut to one point by No. 10 Valley Christian with 2:43 left in the third quarter. But the Bells (6-3, 3-3 West Catholic Athletic League) scored the last 10 points of the game. “We made too many mistakes,” Valley Christian coach Mike Machado said. “We fought back, and they made plays … It was a backand-forth type game.”
NO. 5 LOS GATOS 56, MOUNTAIN VIEW 7>> Los Gatos is closing in on its first 10-0 regular season in the Maxpreps era (2004-present) after rolling on its home field Thursday night over Mountain View. The Wildcats scored four touchdowns in the first quarter and three in the second to improve to 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division. Jake Boyd threw two passes, completing both, including one for a 53-yard touchdown to Luke Pittock to open the scoring. Boyd also scored on a 2-yard run in the second quarter. The Wildcats had two pick-sixes — one returned 99 yards by Landon Heard, the other 22 yards by Kevin Rogers — and Alejandro
Quijada scored on runs of 3 and 5 yards.
NO. 19 WILCOX 42, HOMESTEAD 7>> Wilcox won its fourth in a row and moved above .500 for the first time this season. The Chargers (5-4, 4-1 SCVAL-DE Anza) led 29-0 at the half. Luther K. Glenn led the onslaught with three touchdowns and 185 yards rushing. He has run for 1,303 yards and 17 TDS overall. Andrew Palacios added two touchdowns on the ground. Aliejah Diaz recovered a fumble and took it to the house for another six.
LELAND 42, OVERFELT 7>> Leland, playing on its home field Thursday night, built a 14-0 lead after the first quarter and breezed to victory in BVAL Mt. Hamilton Division play. Mark Eby, a 6-2, 205-pound RB/WR/ MLB, stood out again for the Chargers. The senior had touchdown runs of 4 and 14 yards and scored on a 90yard pick-six. Noor Haroon also had three touchdowns for Leland, on receptions of 28 and 50 yards and a 41yard run, as the Chargers ran their record to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in the Mt. Hamilton. Leland will clinch the Mt. Hamilton title with a win next week at Lincoln. PIONEER 56, PROSPECT 19>> Pioneer clinched at least a share of the BVAL Santa Teresa Division title with the victory, marking the Mustangs’ first league title since 2013. The game started on Friday night, but a power outage early in the first quarter forced a postponement until Saturday.
Today Homestead at Santa Clara, 7 p.m.
Los Gatos at Milpitas, 7 p.m. Leland at Lincoln, 7 p.m. Branham at Leigh, 7 p.m. Willow Glen at Pioneer, 7 p.m.
Prospect at Westmont, 7 p.m.
Saturday Bellarmine at St. Ignatius, 2 p.m.
Sacred Heart at Mitty, 2 p.m.
Valley Christian at Riordan, 2 p.m.
Pioneer’s Gage Houser completed 7 of 8 passes for 242 yards and four touchdowns, including two scoring completions to Anthony Stoopenkoff, who had 83 receiving yards.
LEIGH 42, SOBRATO 35>> In the BVAL Santa Teresa Division, the top two finishers automatically qualify for the CCS playoffs. Leigh and Sobrato each entered this game Saturday in Morgan Hill with one league loss, trailing 6-0 Pioneer. With the stakes clear, the game played out in the fashion one might expect with a lot on the line.
GUNN 50, FREMONT-SUNNYVALE 20>> Gunn has done its part. Now it will wait a week to see if it will qualify for the CCS playoffs. The
Titans scored 22 points in the second quarter Friday to take control and added 21 in the third quarter of this Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division game. Gunn improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 in division play.
BRANHAM 27, WESTMONT 23>> Branham’s Willy Augenstein scored the winning touchdown in the final minutes, one of three scores he had in this Blossom Valley Athletic League Santa Teresa Division game. In the final scoring drive, Branham (6-3, 4-2) converted a fourth-and-three play with under three minutes left.
Darren Sabedra and Mike Lefkow contributed to this story.
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