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A couple of weeks ago I talked about Bellarmine College Prep’s CCS winning game against rival St. Francis and how that would likely be the last high school game I would attend as a student of Bellarmine Prep. However, in the two weeks since, Bellarmine got the surprising call up to play for the Division I state championship, an honor last year’s 12-1 team which had 4 NCAA Division I recruits and is regarded as one of the best football team’s in our school’s history, did not receive. In fact, this was Bellarmine’s first ever call up to the state’s Division I championship game in the long proud history of the school. Though I was not able to attend the game, which took place about 8 hours away from campus, I did watch it TV, as the Bellarmine Bells took on the Oceanside Pirates from San Diego. Oceanside won the state championship back in 2007 and had 5 key guys on this team that played on this team. Oceanside was also on a 38 game winning streak entering the game and has 6 guys expected to get football scholarships to division one schools.

The first thing I noticed about the two teams was the size difference. Bellarmine has a proud history of athletics, 25 straight league swimming championships, among countless other banners that hang in our gym, but our athletics department as a whole, especially football, is more known for being smart, determined, and well coached that naturally athletic. Our top running back and lone division I recruit (Ivy Leagues) is a 6-0 190 pound running back. Our quarterback is 5-10 175 and some of our linemen aren’t even over 230 pounds. The Oceanside Pirates had about 7 guys who looked like they were related to Troy Polamalu. However, as has been the case all year, we didn’t care.

On the strength of our double wing offense, which is a blobby looking, but effective variation of the wildcat, which involves many handoffs between our strong running backs, strong full back, and our good running quarterback, who also occasionally serves as a lead blocker, the Bells took an early 7-3 lead with a long drive that spanned more than 8 minutes and did not feature a single pass. Star senior running back and lone Division I recruit Kyle Olugbode finished the drive with a simple 4 yard touchdown run up the middle.

On the next possession, the Bells forced the Pirates to punt after a three and out and the Bells’ signature double wing offense went back to work. The Bells convert 2 4th downs en route to an early 13-3 lead after a long 53 yard drive, which featured only one pass attempt, a completion. Run first quarterback Mike McGovern pounded it in for a 2 yard score on a keeper. However, the ensuing extra point was blocked to keep the score at 13-3. The Bells’ lone weakness this season, oddly enough, is the field goal unit. Whether it is a botched snap, a botched hold, a botched kick, or a block kick, it always seems like something is going wrong with the field goal unit such that even extra points have not been so automatic this season.

The Pirates would mount another drive downfield on their next possession, doing so in the exact opposite way as the Bells, through the air with big plays. However, as was the case during their first long drive, they would be forced to settle for a field goal try, which would be blocked by Kyle Olugbode’s younger brother, Kris, a junior.

The Bells had all the momentum, a 13-3 point lead, and the block after a blocked field goal, but on the next play, Kyle would make a rare error, fumbling the ball right back to the Pirates, who would shortly after score on a short 4 run yard. The Bells would be forced to punt on their next possession, but an interception by Kyle Olugbode, now playing safety, off of a tipped pass by junior cornerback Rufus Wolokolie, would put an end to a threatening Oceanside drive before the end of the half. The Bells would go into the locker room feeling good about themselves, with a 13-10 point lead over favorited Oceanside and getting the ball to start the 2nd half after deferring the coin toss to start the game. The Bells also held a stunning 16:29 to 7:31 lead in terms of time of possession on the strength of their conservative double wing offense.

The Bells opening drive in the 2nd half didn’t get them any points, but it could be seen as a bit of a moral victory as they were able to knock another 6 minutes off the clock. Oceanside has an explosive offense, but if they never get the ball, there isn’t much they can do. Further adding to the Bells’ hope was an amazing punt by punter/wide receiver Kyle DeMerritt. After the punt, the Pirates had the ball on their own 1-yard line.

However, the Pirates showed that if you give an explosive offense like theirs the ball anywhere, it could be trouble. After being about 6 inches away from being tackled for a safety, the Pirates drove the ball out into the middle of the field with one play. Eight minutes of game time later, the Pirates held the 17-13 after an 18 play 99 yard touchdown drive, culminated by a 13 yard pass from quarterback Quentis Clark to Arizona bound wide receiver Jerry Whittaker. After the Bells were forced to punt on their next possession, the Pirates showed their big play ability, going 55 yards for the score in one passing play from Clark to San Diego State bound Rene Siluano.

Down by 2 touchdowns with 10:17 left in the game, the Bells had to scrap their double wide offense and go to a more traditional drop back system and many wondered if quarterback Mike McGovern, primarily a runner, had the arm and the playmakers at receiver to get the job done. McGovern answered those questions as the Bells went 84 yards downfield for the score. 53 of those yards, including the 15 on a screen play to Kyle Olugbode for the score, came from McGovern’s arm. However, there was still only 2:31 left in the game and, after failing on a two point conversion, the Pirates still held a 24-19 lead.

The Bells would attempt the on side kick on the ensuing kickoff, but fall just short of recovering. But, this one was far from over. An amazing showing by a Bell defense to force a three and out gave the Bells the ball back with 2 minutes left. The defensive stop gave meaning to what Bellarmine coach Mike Janda said before the game, that his team makes their best plays when they need them. Now, it was up to the Mike McGovern and the Bells’ two minute offense to take home state for Bellarmine, for San Jose, and for all of Northern California. The only question was, did we have a 2 minute offense?

Mike McGovern again answered some of the questions making a few big plays with his arm and some with his feet. No play was bigger and more exciting than a scrambling 24 yard completion to wide receiver Kevin Garish. The Bells had the ball inside the 40 and had some time, though no timeouts. On first down, Mike McGovern spikes it to stop the ball, or so he thinks. Flags are thrown on the play and it is believed by the crowd and the commentators to be encroachment on the Pirates’ defensive line. However, the refs had a different take on the play, intentional grounding.

The refs were for the most part shotty on the day, missing two in bounds/out of bounds calls, one favoring each side, and once actually throwing a flag and then pretty much having to come out and say my bad as no penalty actually occurred. One play the ref called holding, came out to say who it was on, stopped mid sentence before saying who it was on and then just said that the penalty had been declined. What happened on this play was, a defensive tackle from Oceanside encroached on Bellarmine center Rudy Iniquez just before the snap and thus was able to push him back farther than he could have if he had not encroached. This made it look like McGovern, who was past Iniquez when he spiked, was past the line of scrimmage and thus the play was intentional grounding, loss of 3 yards and loss of down.

The Bells now had 3rd and 13 in their opponent’s territory with 40 seconds left and two straight long throws for incompletions by McGovern would end the game, 24-19 Pirates. Though it is unknown what would have happened if the ref had not made that call, that missed call hurt both sides. It took away from the Bells a chance to win or lose fairly, but also took away the same right from the Pirates.

Even though the Bells didn’t win state, it was still a huge season for a team that after losing 4 Division I recruits from last season, which was arguably their greatest season ever. The Bells were not expected to go 8-1-1 in the regular season. Once they did that, the Bells were not expected to even win our CCS conference, coming into CCS as a 5th seed, let alone make state for the first time in the school’s history. And once we were there, we were not supposed to win, but we almost did. As the commentators repeatedly and somewhat annoyingly after a while called us throughout the game, we were the little team that could. Though I will not be a part of it as a student fan cheering ever again, I feel proud of Bellarmine’s football tradition and hopeful for next season and the future.