Crusaders advance to section title game
St. Bernard's shuts down Middletown in 35-7 win, advances to NCS D6 title game
Justin Hagler returned an interception for a touchdown and caught a touchdown pass from Will Omey — who accounted for four scores on the day — and No. 2 St. Bernard’s Academy punched a ticket to the program’s first North Coast Section title game since 2016 with a 35-7 win over No. 3 Middletown in the semifinal-round of the Division 6 playoffs, Saturday afternoon at Crusader Field.
Early in the second-quarter Hagler got his hands on an errant pass from Middletown’s Isaac Perez and returned the interception 50 yards to give St. Bernard’s (9-3) a 21-0 lead, which it would hold until the break.
Middletown did nothing with its first drive of the second-half and punted away to the Crusaders.
Two plays later Hagler was back in the endzone, this time on the receiving end of a 44-yard dime of a ball from Omey.
Hagler helped lead an offense which scored the second-most points in a game against Middletown (8-3) of any team the Mustangs have faced this season, and a defense which held the Mustangs to their lowest point total of the year.
“In my seven years coaching at St. Bernard’s I think this is the best performance by a defense I have seen,” CrusadersD head coach Matt Tomlin said. “100 percent, our defense won this game. They shut a very good Middletown team down for four quarters.”
St. Bernard’s opened the game with a 7-play, 74-yard drive capped off by a 16-yard touchdown run from Omey.
A few plays before Hagler scored on defense, Omey put the Crusaders ahead 14-0 via a 60yard touchdown pass to Damarte
Prudhomme.
Omey, who accounted for four total touchdowns — two through the air and two on the ground — iced the Crusaders’ cake late in the fourth-quarter with a touchdown drive featuring seven runs
by Omey; the longest, a 32yard dash and the last, a 7-yard touchdown run.
Defensively St. Bernard’s forced four total turnovers. I edition to Hagler’s interception, Lane Thrap secured an interception just before halftime while Omey and Kieran Howe each notched fumble recoveries. The Crusaders defense also stood tall on a 4th-and-1 play by Middletown deep in their own territory which saw the bulk of the 11 young men in green wrap up Middletown’s Dillon Tingle behind the line of scrimmage, ending a potential scoring drive by the Mustangs when the contest was still not yet won.
Middletown put its lone touchdown on the board early in the final frame thanks to a 7-yard touchdown run by Tingle. The score was set up by a 53yard pass from Perez to Nico Barrio. Barrio, it should be noted, had more than 150 rushing yards according to stats kept by this reporter.
The Crusaders defensive unit frequently identified and called out Middletown’s plays at the line of scrimmage — the Hagler interception was one example.
“We haven’t done this all year, it’s been a culmination of our guys working hard and getting better each week,” Crusaders defensive coordinator Rich Stevenson said. “I told this group I would work as hard as I could to get them to where they want to be…And they’re not quite ready to hang their shoes up yet.”
Up next
St. Bernard’s will face No. 1 Kennedy-Richmond, 42-21 winners over No. 4 Justin-Siena in its semifinal-round game on Friday, in the section championship game. A date and time for that contest is still to be announced.
It will be the first appearance in a section title game for the Crusaders since 2015 — the same year St. Bernard’s won a state championship.