Bellarmine's tight and straight forward double-wing attack can cause opponents fits.
Photo by Brad Kupper
Bellarmine (San Jose) 12-1 vs.
Santa Margarita (Rancho Santa Margarita) 12-2, at Home Depot Center 8 p.m. Friday
FACTS AND STATSRankings – Bellarmine: National, No. 43 by MaxPreps and State, No. 7 MaxPreps.
Santa Margarita: National, No. 10 by MaxPreps and State, No. 2 MaxPreps.
Notable alums – Bellarmine: Pat Burrell (MLB), Dan Pastorini (NFL QB), Pablo Morales (Olympic swimmer).
Santa Margarita: Carson Palmer (NFL QB), Chris Rix (Florida State QB, Fox analyst), Brian Finneran (NFL WR).
Leading rushers – Bellarmine: Tim Crawley (185 carries, 1429 yards, 17 TDs),
Travis McHugh (175-1,373-21).
Santa Margarita: Ryan Wolpin (224-1546-28),
Johnny Stanton (215-1354-20).
Leading passers – Bellarmine: McHugh (57-for-92, 847 yards, 11 TD, 3 INT).
Santa Margarita: Stanton (140-230-2078-8-8).
Leading receivers – Bellarmine: Alex Manigo (12-197-6).
Santa Margarita: River Cracraft (28-384-0).
Points per game (allowed) – Bellarmine 38.6 (11.5), Santa Margarita 36.1 (17.6).
The West Catholic Athletic League from the Central Coast Section is largely considered the strongest league from top to bottom in Northern California. Few would argue that the Trinity League out of the Southern Section is the toughest in the state, and many believe one of the toughest in the nation.
Santa Margarita junior quarterback
Johnny Stanton has accounted for
more than 3,400 yards and 28 TDs.
Photo by Heston Quan
Teams from both will collide in a fantastic Division I Bowl Championship showdown at the Home Depot Center as Bellarmine Prep of San Jose takes on Santa Margarita of Rancho Santa Margarita.
The WCAL's Bellarmine will make its second appearance at state, following a gritty performance in 2009. The Bells, a heavy underdog, dropped a 24-19 game to San Diego Section power Oceanside. The Bells (12-1) return to the Home Depot Center after one of their most dominating WCAL seasons in recent memory, going 7-0. The team's only loss was a heart-breaker,
a 26-23 defeat to De La Salle-Concord in double overtime to open the season.
A win would have been monumental as De La Salle, the two-time defending Bowl Open Champion, hasn't lost to a Northern California team in 20 years, a span of 223 games. Bellarmine actually had De La Salle on the ropes and controlled most of the game.
The team's quarterback, Travis McHugh, said he knew this team was special and knew the Bells would rebound.
"Like we said early on, we were shooting for the stars and we're there in a sense," McHugh told Alex Pavlovic of the San Jose Mercury News. "But our goal wasn't to get to state, it was to win state."
It will be a tall order against an also battle-tested Santa Margarita team that didn't win the Trinity League – it sustained two league losses, in fact – but rebounded to win the remarkably tough Southern Section Pac-5 Tournament. The Eagles clinched the title with a 27-13 championship win over San Clemente, giving coach Harry Welch his ninth CIF crown with three teams.
In fact, Welch will be making his third appearance to the Bowl Championships with a third different school. He previously won titles with Canyon of Canyon Country in 2006 (Division I) and two years later with St. Margaret's of San Juan Capistrano in Division IV.
"I'm as happy as a football coach can be," Welch told the Orange County Register when he learned of Santa Margarita's selection. "I said all along that I would accept and respect whatever way the decision went. … and I accept happily."
BELLARMINE OFFENSE vs.
SANTA MARGARITA DEFENSEThe Bells run the highly effective but sometimes hard-to-watch double wing-T "scrum" attack. There are no wideouts and two tight ends and McHugh, a prep Tim Tebow, runs the option show. There's lots of misdirection and power and when McHugh isn't handing the ball to fleet Tim Crawley (5-foot-9, 160 pounds), he's keeping it for himself.
Bellarmine quarterback Travis
McHugh has been compared to Tim
Tebow for his physical play, left-
handed motion and leadership.
Photo by Brad Kupper
Like Tebow, he's not fleet, but extremely strong at 6-3 and 205. He rushed for 1,373 yards and a team-high 21 touchdowns, including three in the CCS finals, a 42-13 win over defending Division I State Bowl champion Palo Alto. The team's line is not huge, but extremely strong, smart and agile. It is led by WCAL Most Valuable Lineman
Connor Lambert (6-1, 225).
"One advantage that we have is the double-wing offense because I don't think they've seen it," McHugh said. "We have so many ways of misdirecting with our offense, so we'll just keep doing what we've been doing. We just need to play smart football."
There's probably not much Santa Margarita – or certainly Welch – hasn't seen.
The Eagles have played against some of Southern California's most prolific offenses, but they rarely break. They are led by the linebacker duo of
Matt Andersen (6-0, 185) and
Sammy Gibbs (5-11, 212), who have combined for 231 tackles. They are undersized but very productive.
Chris Frost (6-4, 238) and
Mack Pierson (5-9, 220) have been absolutely stellar on the defensive line. Frost has 90 tackles and 11 sacks and Pierson 95 and 8.5. The secondary is led by
Connor O'Brien, a 6-2, 167-pound safety who has eight interceptions.
SANTA MARGARITA OFFENSE vs.
BELLARMINE DEFENSEThe Eagles rely on one of the top junior quarterbacks in the state, 6-3, 200-pound Johnny Stanton. His passing numbers are impressive enough – 140 of 230 for 2,027 yards – but it's his threat as a runner that makes Santa Margarita so hard to stop. He's the team's second-leading rusher with 1,354 yards and 20 touchdowns.
Needless to say, quarterbacks are likely going to have a large hand – and feet – in this one.
Santa Margarita's Ryan Wolpin has
rushed for 28 touchdowns.
Photo by Ian Tennant
Stanton's top threats are also juniors, 5-9, 185-pound scatback Ryan Wolpin (1,546 yards, 28 touchdowns) and 6-foot, 178-pound receiver River Cracraft (28-384).
Following a humbling loss to traditional power Mater Dei (Santa Ana), the Eagles began to soar, scoring more than 40 points in four of the next six games. They'll face an extremely disciplined and sure-tackling defense led by the WCAL's Most Valuable Linebacker in
Joe Gigantino (6-2, 215).
He leads a cohesive group of defenders who largely look and play the same. Lambert, outside linebacker Alex Manigo (6-1, 205), along with defensive tackles
Casey Wahl (6-4, 220) and
Jacob Boissiere (5-11, 215) were all first-team All-WCAL members.
They led a defense that allowed more than two touchdowns only three times all season. The Bells also allowed a scant 212 yards in the loss to highly prolific De La Salle.
Much of Bellarmine's defense also relies on the team's offense to control the ball.
EXTRA POINTS Santa Margarita won its first Southern Section championship since 1997, when current Oakland Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer led the team… Santa Margarita's run of victories in the Pac-5 Division was awfully impressive: Bishop Amat, Long Beach Poly, Mission Viejo and San Clemente… This is the third-straight year and fourth in six years that the CCS Open Division winner has qualified for the Division I Bowl Game.
