No. 10: St. Bernard’s celebrates state championship win
The St. Bernard’s football team beat visiting SouthTorrance 34-20 in the Dec. 14 CIF Division 6-AA state championship game at the Redwood Bowl that featured the Eureka team’s senior quarterback Will Omey running for four touchdowns and passing for another. The Crusaders scored 27 unanswered points to flip a two-score deficit into a two-touchdown advantage.
“It’s pure joy,” St. Bernard’s head coach Matt Tomlin said. “This senior class has been on a fouryear mission to win a state championship. For them to do it in their final game is just incredible.”
South scored the game’s first points on its first drive of the night with 7:33 to play in the first quarter, but Omey hit sophomore Damarte Prudhomme for a 46-yard touchdown to put the Crusaders on the board with 6:02 to play in the first half.
“(South) wasn’t going to let (receiver Lane Thrap) win us that game,” Tomlin said. “So other guys had to step up. And (Prudhomme) did that, his touchdown sparked our team.”
St. Bernard’s, once down 13-0 with under seven minutes to play in the half, entered halftime ahead 14-13.
The Crusaders kicked and recovered consecutive onside kicks to start the third quarter.
The first one set the Crusaders up on South’s 47 yard-line. Eight plays later Omey ran into the endzone for the second time, a 2-yard rumble on 4th-andgoal.
The second successful onside kick landed the Crusaders on South’s 46. A few plays later Omey took off on a 32-yard dash, giving St. Bernard’s a 27-13 lead with 6:17 to play in the third.
Prudhomme effectively ended South’s first drive of the second-half with a 12yard sack of Nash on second down. South punted back to St. Bernard’s two minutes before the start of the fourth frame.
South brought itself within a score with 10 minutes to play, but St. Bernard’s
responded in a hurry: 10-plus yard runs by Omey and Talimaivao Fonoti placed the Crusaders a few yards from paydirt. Omey ended the drive with his fourth rushing touchdown of the game, a 3-yard run to put the Crusaders back ahead by two touchdowns, 34-20, with just under eight minutes to play.
“Those five guys had a tremendous game,” Tomlin said of his offensive line. The coach noted guards Harmon Daniel and Connor Petrusha for having particularly dominant games up front.
With the win, St. Bernard’s became the only Humboldt-Del Norte League school to have earned two state championships in football. Its first was in 2015.