Bellarmine Prep prevails against Emerald Ridge on last-second field goal
Watch a thousand high school football games and fans would maybe be able to count on one hand the number of endings they’d see as wild as the one Emerald Ridge and Bellarmine Prep delivered at Sparks Stadium on Thursday night.
Pinned deep in its own territory, tied 20-20 with under 20 seconds to go in regulation, Emerald Ridge lined up for a punt on fourth down. Everyone in the stadium expected the Jaguars to punt the ball and play for overtime.
So when Emerald Ridge ran a fake punt and the throw went incomplete, most everyone in the stadium turned to whoever they were sitting next to, stunned, wondering what just happened.
Bellarmine, naturally, capitalized. The Lions ran one running play to center the ball for a field goal, took a timeout and sent Max Walker out to kick the game-winning field goal.
He drilled it, giving Bellarmine the 23-20 win as the clock hit zero. Here’s what we learned from Bellarmine’s win in the 4A SPSL.
WHAT HAPPENED ON THE FAKE PUNT?
That wasn’t the play call. At least, it wasn’t the one Emerald Ridge coach Adam Schakel wanted called. This wasn’t a gutsy play call where Schakel saw a gaping hole in the Bellarmine punt coverage and thought the Jaguars could score the game-winning touchdown on a fake.
He wanted to simply punt the ball away and head to overtime.
“We had some miscommunication,” Schakel said. “Unfortunately, it cost us. We didn’t want a fake punt there. We had a miscommunication in our calls. It wasn’t intentional but it happened.”
The players ran the play that was called in, Shakel said. Somewhere along the way, the wrong call was relayed to the punt unit.
“We didn’t mean for that to be the call,” Schakel said. “We were talking about doing a fake earlier in the game on that 4th and 2, if they gave us a certain look. They didn’t give us the look so we punted it. It was fresh in the mind, it was called out. … That’s not on the kids. That’s on us as coaches to fix that.”
TRISTAN WARNER IS A WORKHORSE
Originally supposed to be Bellarmine’s starting quarterback this season, Warner has since moved to tailback due to some injuries. He has excelled in that role. In Thursday’s win, he rushed for 141 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. Defensively, he had a first-half interception that led to a Bellarmine field goal, just before the halftime break.
Bellarmine coach Brian Jensen said Warner has adjusted well to the running back spot and the pounding he’s taking at the featured back.
“His character is really different than a normal quarterback, even though he was our quarterback,” Jensen said. “He’s a strong, fit, young man. That doesn’t bother him. He gets better as it goes.”
Warner said he’s happy to help the team win however he can.
“It’s kind of crazy,” he said. “Thankful for whatever I can do to help the team out.”
Bellarmine receiver Bo Hiemstra led the Lions’ receivers with 61 yards on four receptions, including a couple clutch catches to extend Bellarmine drives. Quarterback Payon Faker completed 11-of-24 passes for 103 yards and an interception. He also rushed for 16 yards.
SOME BRILLIANCE, SOME YOUTH FOR JAGS’ QB JAKE SCHAKEL
Emerald Ridge sophomore quarterback Jake Schakel, Adam’s son, completed 22 of 31 passes for 205 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He showed some flashes of brilliance, but also showed his youth, throwing three interceptions in the loss.
“He forced a couple,” Adam Schakel said. “Early on, we needed to be better and more efficient on first and second down. Getting those second and third and longs where they can drop a bunch of guys, he forced a couple there where he should have just thrown it away and we could punt it. Trying to make plays. But I thought he bounced back really well in the second half, particularly.”
UW commit and receiver Denzel Boston caught six passes for 75 yards and a touchdown in the loss. Sophomore receiver Tony Harste had seven catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.
FOR PLAYOFF POSITIONING, THIS WAS A HUGE WIN FOR BELLARMINE
The 4A South Puget Sound League will receive six playoff spots this season. The top four will get home opening-round playoff games. Bellarmine now has wins over Emerald Ridge and Olympia, two teams that were also in the hunt for those spots.
The win puts Bellarmine in great position to secure the league’s fourth playoff spot (at minimum) and therefore, host a playoff game this fall.
“It means a whole lot to our team,” Warner said. “Over the past few years, we’ve been kind of building up each other, building up our brotherhood. I love these guys. This is my favorite group I’ve had so far, it means so much to us. Especially with the fan support, our coaches, we couldn’t have been there without them. I’m looking forward to next week.”
On the flip side, Schakel still feels confident the Jags are a playoff team, especially since Emerald Ridge beat Olympia on the road recently.
“I told the kids, you played your hearts out out there,” he said. “Don’t hang your heads. That’s a good team over there. You fought the whole time. You guys made plays to where we could win this game. We made some mistakes as coaches that we have to fix. Our goals are there still. We want to be able to have a chance to compete in this league, get in a position to make the playoffs and it’s gotta be game by game.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2021 at 12:43 AM.
