Serra picks off big win at St. Ignatius

In the aftermath of his team’s spirited 343 seasonending win Saturday at St. Ignatius, Serra football coach Patrick Walsh didn’t know whether to laugh, weep or celebrate. He dared not to close his eyes or he might just hibernate from exhaustion.

The secondranked Padres (50) tied a school record with six interceptions and scored three touchdowns in the first 7 minutes, 38 seconds of the second half keyed by explosive plays of his explosive junior standouts, quarterback Dominique Lampkin and Hassan Mahasin to turn the tables after a 1413 regularseasonending loss at St. Ignatius last year.

Senior linebacker Fynn Williams capped off a 270 secondhalf blitz with a 58yard picksix in the fourth quarter, giving the Padres senior class its first win over the No. 6 Wildcats (31).

Though the spring season was four games short, postponed from the fall by the pandemic, Walsh called it the longest season ever. He and De La SalleConcord’s Justin Alumbaugh started a 700member coaches group in December to salvage the season, meeting with state politicians and decision makers to squeeze out a season, one filled with anxiety due to coronavirus tests and

COVID19 protocols.

“It was a bitter, long painful journey, that had a lot of anxiety and depression and ended with a lot of joy, a lot of love and a lot of brotherhood here at Serra,” Walsh told Harold Abend of Prep2Prep.

The interceptions came from five players — two by Andrew Stewart and one each by Max Goligoski, Joseph Bey and Jamill LeBlanc — but on offense, Lampkin (12for16, 211 yards, three TDs passing, one rushing) and Mahasin (eight catches, 137 yards, two total touchdowns) did most of the damage.

St. Ignatius moved the ball between the 20s fine, getting a combined 203 passing yards from Aidan Smith, Cheddar Tunney and Charlie Pyfer, but seven turnovers did the Wildcats in. They got a big game from Air Forcebound center and nose guard Jack Burnett, who had two tackles behind the line and a sack.

More Saturday: Daytuawn Pearson returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown and No. 3 Pittsburg (50) raced to a 340 halftime lead before rolling to a 478 Big Little Game win at Antioch (14). … Junior quarterback Michael Ingrassia accounted for 262 yards and four touchdowns as No. 5 Marin CatholicKentfield (50) closed with a 303 win at RedwoodLarkspur (32). … Andrew Latu rushed for two touchdowns as No. 23 Sacred Heart PrepAtherton (51) beat visiting Menlo SchoolAtherton (41) 287.

Friday: No. 20 LibertyBrentwood beat No. 21 HeritageBrentwood 3021 as sophomore quarterback Nate Bell accounted for more than 300 total yards . ... Sophomore receiver Jurrion Dickey’s second touchdown TD catch of the game gave fourthranked Valley Christian (31) a road 1613 win over 13thranked St. Francis (22) . ... Adam Garwood rushed for 101 yards and Kyle Pinkham caught a 66yard touchdown pass from Alex Grado as No. 11 Los Gatos (50) won 457 at Palo Alto (23). … Jacob Griessel threw for 238 yards and three TDs as No. 15 CampolindoOrinda (60) won 440 over host MiramonteOrinda (24) .. ... Cian Dowling ran for two scores and passed for another as Sacred Heart Cathedral (13) broke 14game losing streak with a 200 win over Riordan (13) at Kezar Stadium to claim the Stanfel Cup.