Although it was a tight game as expected, The Bishop’s School football team kept its record perfect last weekend.
The Knights clinched the Coastal League championship and an undefeated regular season with a come-from-behind 21-10 win at Francis Parker.
Bishop’s trailed 10-7 at halftime and held Parker at the 1-yard line on four consecutive plays.
The Knights then had a 99-yard drive capped by a Jacob Kelly one-yard run, giving the Knights the lead at 14-10.
Bishop’s again drove down and scored in the fourth quarter to make the score 21-10.
The Knights finish the regular season at 9-0 and received the number two seed in the CIF playoffs.
Bishop’s will play the winner of Vincent Memorial and Tri City Christian on Saturday, Nov. 24 at La Jolla High School at 7:30 p.m.
“As a coaching staff, we couldn’t be more proud of our players,” Bishop’s head coach Mike David said. “We had our backs against the wall last week and our team refused to go down. The effort that these players have put out on a daily basis paid off tonight.”
Elsewhere, La Jolla Country Day School (6-3, 3-0) tuned up for the playoffs by winning its last regular season game, 44-0, over Los Osos (8-2) before a Senior Night crowd last Friday night.
The key to the big win was the Torrey defense, which collected six Grizzly turnovers and gave the LJCD offense a short field to work with all evening.
Defensive linemen Andy Altman and Doug Rogers each recovered Los Osos fumbles and linebackers Cody Maxwell and John Hansbrough each picked off passes for interceptions.
Not to be outdone by his older teammates, freshman safety Shonta Chiloux brought down two Los Osos passes for interceptions. Linebackers Montell Allen and Mark Hannum each led the team in tackles with nine apiece. Hansbrough racked up seven tackles and Indie Lavarias made six stops.
Offensively, the Torreys were paced by QB Derek Hatfield, who went 11-of-20 passing for 148 yards and two TDs. Receiver Tommy Morris caught one TD and added an 18-yard run for touchdown. Mike Salas added a pair of TDs for the Torreys.
Kicker Travis Golia had a terrific night, hitting 3-of-3 field goals attempts (36, 25, 35 yards) and going 5-for-5 on PATs.
LJCD emerged from the playoff-seeding meeting with the No. 5 seed and will host 12th-seeded Mt. Empire Friday night at 7:30 p.m.
Finally, La Jolla High scored a hard-fought 22-20 victory over Hoover High last Friday.
To say that Hoover High senior Corey Trisby is a one-man highlight tape does not do justice to his Cardinal teammates.
As a team, the Cardinals entered the contest against La Jolla with a 6-2 record and the hope for a strong seed in the CIF Division II playoffs. Trisby had thrown for more than 1,000 yards in eight games and rushed for over 350 yards.
After receiving the opening kickoff, La Jolla drove the length of the field behind the running of junior tailback Robbie Beathard and senior fullback Ja’Rodd Watson, to go with a 40-yard pass from senior quarterback Matt Mulvey to senior receiver John Jackson. The drive was capped off by Beathard’s one-yard plunge for the touchdown.
As Hoover threatened, La Jolla’s defense stiffened and held the Cardinals out of the end zone for a 7-0 lead after one quarter.
After taking a 9-0 lead on a safety, La Jolla scored again via a one-yard run by Beathard to make it 16-0. Junior wide receiver Yoshi Rothman returned the Hoover kickoff 37 yards to the Hoover 43. Beathard, Watson and junior tailback Victor Rangel traded carries in the drive.
After Hoover closed within 16-13, La Jolla got a 42-yard field goal from Lee Abelkop on the last play of the half.
Early in the fourth quarter, senior running back Jerrell Agnew came off the bench to spark the Vikings. Agnew was resting a painful sprained ankle from last week’s Point Loma game but was inserted into the game on both sides of the ball.
On defense, Agnew provided several key defensive plays, and on offense he ran for 35 yards in the quarter. Abelkop notched a 32-yard field goal to make it 22-13.
Hoover closed within 22-20 with four minutes left in the contest, but La Jolla ended Hoover’s final hopes when cornerback Spencer Moyer knocked away a pass at the 15 to seal the win.
For La Jolla, Beathard finished with 69 yards on the ground and two TDs. The Viking defense was led by inside linebackers Tony Sandoval and Thomas Bowman. Sandoval had 11 tackles and a sack, and Bowman contributed nine tackles and a sack.
The win allowed the Vikings to earn a second seed in the CIF playoffs.
“We knew that Mission Bay was going to get the first seed, but we really challenged the kids all week to beat Hoover and get the second seed,” La Jolla High head coach Dave Ponsford said.
La Jolla will have a bye this week, hosting Coronado on Friday, Nov. 23, at 7:30 p.m.