The story behind Beauchman’s first win as Bellarmine’s coach
Scrambling with many in quarantine, school rallies to beat San Benito
Jalal Beauchman was ready for a nap.
After an exhausting, challenging, and ultimately rewarding finish to the football week, the new Bellarmine coach planned to celebrate his first victory April 3 by catching up on sleep. His team, playing on its home field in San Jose, rallied from two touchdowns behind to beat San Benito 17-14. That score and comeback only tell part of the story.
Bellarmine, on the heels of losing its season opener last month after leading by three touchdowns, had to postpone its game the previous week against rival St. Francis because of positive COVID-19 tests within the San Jose school’s program. Many players, including four-fifths of the offensive line and one coach, remained in quarantine April 3 because of contact tracing.
Beauchman and his staff had to scramble, promoting members of the junior varsity team earlier in the week and calling on players to line up in unfamiliar positions. Then they fell 14 points behind in their first varsity game on their campus field in decades. The Bells normally play a few miles away at San Jose City College, where there are lights and large bleachers, but bigger venues are not necessary with crowds restricted because of the virus.
So the Bells played April 3 at home — their true home — and when it looked as if the result wouldn’t go their way, they charged back to win. Nicho Domine’s field goal cut the team’s deficit to 14-3 at halftime. The Bells closed to within 14-10 in the third quarter when Tommy Anderson threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jaxon Sawyer.
Sawyer’s 8-yard run with 4:39 left gave Bellarmine a 17-14 lead, and Adam Hayashi’s interception in the final two minutes sealed the Bells’ first victory under their new coach. Afterward, Beauchman told his players the result “was a validation” of the work they put in the previous week.
“It was almost a little emotional because we had a lot of adversity,” he said. “We had 21 guys down. Basically, our entire offensive line and defensive line were down. Sophomores up from JV. We had to move guys around who weren’t offensive linemen or defensive linemen. They had to learn the position in a week.
“At the end of the day, we said this is going to be a grinder, a close game, and it’s going to be about wills. And we were successful. I am extremely proud of our boys and our coaching staff. We had every reason to give up and not believe in ourselves and not think that we could win and quit —andwedidnotdothat.
“I just feel really good right now. That’s exactly how you want to get your first win.”
The team also played with heavy hearts as the school mourns the passing of legendary aquatics coach Larry Rogers, whom school president Chris Meyercord said died in his sleep March 31. Rogers, 74, won an unprecedented 59 section swim and water polo championships before retiring in 2017.
“When I was a student here, Larry was here, and I remember him vividly screaming from the pool deck as I walked by it,” said Beauchman, who graduated from Bellarmine in 2006. “I was fortunate enough to have him as a PE teacher as well. I had a little bit of a relationship with him and always had good, fond memories of him. I like to think that the boys got this one done not only for the guys who are quarantined at home but for Larry Rogers.”
With the win, Beauchman now needs just 285 more to catch his predecessor, Mike Janda, the Central Coast Section’s all-time winningest coach.
“Let’s just get two,” Beauchman said, laughing. “I’ll just worry about getting to two.”
Next on the schedule for Bellarmine: A home game April 10 against Valley Christian.
Elsewhere
Los Gatos 56, Mountain View 23: Mountain View rode into Los Gatos undefeated and looking good. The Spartans’ two victories included a rare triumph over Palo Alto and a rout of Santa Clara. It all made for what seemed like a big matchup April 2. But Los Gatos had other ideas. The Wildcats ambushed Mountain View with five touchdowns in the first quarter and cruised to a victory that set up a league championship showdown this week at Wilcox. Los Gatos and Wilcox are 3-0.
“I’ll tell you, this is as good a team as I’ve been around,” Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. “We’re playing all three phases really well. Mountain View is a good team. They play hard. They’re well-coached. Our guys just played so fast and kind of overwhelmed them a little bit early on.”
Ranked 10th by the Bay Area News Group, Los Gatos needed just a minute for Alex Grado to throw the first of his two touchdown passes before halftime, this one to Quinn Merritt. Adam Garwood followed with touchdown runs of 6 and 21 yards to make it 21-0.
Caspian Bailey scored on a 1-yard run and Carson Gardner charged in from 13 yards out — the five touchdowns all coming before the first quarter ended.