As cross-town rivalries simmered, the Bishop’s Knights defeated the La Jolla Country Day (LJCD) Torreys, 37-14, in a CIF Division V quarterfinal football game at La Jolla High School last Friday, Nov. 24.
The Knights jumped out to an early lead behind touchdown runs of one and six yards, respectively, by sophomore running back Jacob Kelly (9 carries, 101 yards). That made the score 14-0 in favor of Bishop’s in the second quarter.
“Defensively, we needed to stop Country Day,” Knights coach Mike David said.
Bishop’s did slow down LJCD. That is, until senior running back Kevin Ings ran one in from seven yards out to cut the Knight cushion to 14-7.
“Because this is a rivalry game, it’s a game that we wanted to play,” Torreys coach Jeff Hutzler said. “I think it comes down to which team shows passion about the game and who wants it more.”
What did Bishop’s want? To put some more points on the scoreboard, of course. The Knights did just that when junior running back/kicker Tim Costello (4 carries, 78 yards) connected on a 47-yard field goal to extend the Bishop’s advantage to 17-7 heading into the locker room at halftime.
“Offensively, we wanted to try to establish our passing game,” David said.
After the intermission, it was more of the same as junior quarterback Tommy Warnham wreaked havoc on an eight-yard touchdown run to give the Knights a 23-7 edge.
“Coming into the game, we knew that it probably wasn’t going to be about X’s and O’s,” Hutzler said. “We had a feeling. In a way, this game was for the pride of La Jolla.”
Bishop’s sophomore linebacker Mike D. Jensen can definitely take pride in the fact that he returned a fumble 25 yards for a touchdown after a sack of LJCD senior quarterback Zach Kusnir. Kusnir would get revenge later, however, on a nice 35-yard scoring toss to Ings.
Sandwiched between Kusnir being sacked and throwing the touchdown pass was an 11-yard touchdown run by Knight senior running back Ben Lacombe. That made the score 37-7 in favor of Bishop’s and pretty much sealed the victory.
With the win, the Knights improve their record to 7-4. With the loss, the Torreys conclude their season at 9-2.
The No. 3-seeded Knights go on to play No. 2-seeded Christian in the CIF semifinal, moved up to Dec. 1, 7:30 p.m., at Valhalla High School.