Prep football: St. Vincent shows resilience, dispatches St. Bernard’s for second time this season

They just keep on winning.

St. Vincent (7-0, 1-0), the No. 4 team in the Press Democrat’s rankings, took down St. Bernard’s-Eureka (3-4) for the second time this season, although this time around was much closer, winning 35-24.

Whereas the Mustangs got rolling early on up in Eureka, they didn’t truly pull away from the Crusaders until early on in the fourth quarter, when 46-yard touchdown run by Kai Hall made it 28-10.

The team from Eureka did make it a game until then, as they were matching St. Vincent toe-to-toe in the early goings. Quarterback Drew Sisemore was running all over the Mustangs, tied it up at seven with a rushing touchdown.

One sequence that really stood out happened midway through the second quarter. After St. Vincent earned a turnover on downs, Nico Antonini gets hit for a roughing the kicker penalty on fourth down of the Mustangs drive. The next play the Crusaders were called for encroachment. St. Vincent ended up missing a field goal on that drive going into halftime leading 14-7.

Let’s take a dive into some key takeaways.

Overcoming the transfers

One key story coming into the rematch was St. Bernard’s transfers, who were now eligible to play. The caveat was that most, if not all of them played on the line.

The Mustang players certainly felt the difference, but regardless their rushing attack proved effective. Both Kai Hall and Jaret Bosarge’s (three rushing touchdowns) legs were key weapons yet again.

“We knew their (offensive) line was going to be different,” Senior lineman Cameron Vaughn said. “For us it was a matter of how can we adjust. We knew they were going to do things that were different…but at the end of the day, our playmakers showed up, everyone showed up.”

A much needed game

Coming into this game, St. Vincent outscored their opponents 240-67 so far this season.

But in this game they were only up seven points at halftime, and didn’t really take over until the fourth quarter.

So, to face a little bit of adversity? That’s a good thing for the Mustangs.

“I think it was a good thing we faced some adversity because all season we haven’t, and we’ve kind of just been beating teams by three, four, five touchdowns,” Herzog said. “So, at halftime, seven point lead, have to make some adjustments for pretty much the first time all year…when you play a team twice, and beat them the first time by 26, it’s trying to convince these kids that it’s not always easy.”

This type of game was much needed for St. Vincent, and it couldn’t have happened at a better time with a huge matchup at Ukiah next week.

“Championship game”

Speaking of next week, the Mustangs travel to a red-hot Ukiah (5-2, 2-0), who have won five games in a row. During this stretch the Wildcats have dispatched Casa Grande and Maria Carrillo. Due to the NBL-Redwood’s structure, the boys at St. Vincent are viewing this as a possible championship game.

“It’s a championship week,” Herzog said. “We’re playing for a championship Friday night. I just told the guys, if you want to win the championship outright, then we have to win Friday night and beat Maria Carrillo the last game of the season.”

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: Folks, buckle up those seat belts, things are about to get interesting.

You can reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or kienan.odoherty@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kodoherty22.