St. Bonaventure spoiled Bishop Diego’s Homecoming Night with a 21-6 road win in a Marmonte League clash on Friday.
A turnover infested first half led to no touchdowns for either team. The Cardinals led 6-0 at halftime, but the visiting Seraphs scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to capture the victory.
“We didn’t take advantage of opportunities that we had early on in the game. Opportunities that came from turnovers as well as good field position, and so not to come away with more points, was kind of an indication of what we just wanted to see offensively.” said Bishop Diego head coach Tom Crawford.
On the very first play of the game, a bobbled snap by St. Bonaventure led to a fumble recovery by Bishop Diego,setting them up nicely at the St. Bonaventure 25-yard line. However, the Seraphs dodged a bullet as Bishop Diego fumbled the ball right back when a motioning receiver interfered in the snap giving the ball right back to St. Bonaventure.
On the ensuing St. Bonaventure drive, junior defensive back John Michael Flint was able to intercept a 3rd down pass, giving Bishop field position in St. Bonaventure territory once again. Bishop Diego was able to kick a 21-yard field goal to give them the lead.
The Cardinal defense held their own and was able to get back-to-back sacks and halted the St. Bonaventure offense leading to a punt. But turnovers once again hurt Bishop Diego. A big punt return by Junior Gabe Villa was negated by a forced fumble by sophomore Andrew Estrada, giving St. Bonaventure possession. St. Bonaventure was forced to 4th down and went for it, to only throw another interception to John Michael Flint, giving him two on the night.
Senior kicker Kael Andrade was able to nail an impressive 45-yard field goal to end the turnover riddled first half, giving Bishop Diego a 6-0 lead going into halftime.
St. Bonaventure turned the page in the second half of the game with 21 unanswered points. The Seraphs leaned on Senior running back Koen Glover, who amassed 142 rushing yards on 23 carries, along with all 3 of St. Bonaventure’s touchdowns.
Bishop Diego struggled to find a rhythm offensively to match the St. Bonaventure rushing attack. “(St Bonaventure) picked up some momentum offensively in the second half and we were struggling to slow them down, but our defense was on the field a ton, when you got a bunch of guys going both ways, that’s pretty tough if you can’t move the ball offensively. So, you know, credit to them, they played a really good second half.” said Head Coach Tom Crawford.
Bishop Diego moves to 4-4-1 on the season and will finish the regular season at Pacifica next week. Coach Crawford on the challenge ahead, “It’ll be a tough game that you got really good athletes that have some size, they go at a really fast pace. We’ve seen them on video several times now. So it’ll be a challenge obviously, but I think the kids will play hard.”