SAN FRANCISCO — St. Ignatius wasn’t supposed to do this again. Not after already pulling off an improbable fourth-quarter comeback last week. Not after falling behind by three touchdowns. Not after their offense only generated three points through two quarters. Not after throwing a demoralizing interception on the one-yard line right before halftime.
No, St. Ignatius wasn’t supposed to do this again. They did it again, anyway.
A week removed from its two-touchdown comeback victory against Serra, St. Ignatius (4-1) erased a 21-0 deficit, rattled off 31 consecutive points at one juncture and defeated their crosstown rivals, 31-28. All signs pointed to a wire-to-wire win for Archbishop Riordan (2-3). By night’s end, the Wildcats were the ones holding the Gil Haskell Trophy.
“This is our city,” said running back Jarious Hogan. “We’ve been constantly doubted by multiple people, and we’ve constantly shown them that we’re ready. We’re up for it.”
“We’re not a team that can be slept on,” said quarterback Soren Hummel. “Even if you think you have us, you never really got us until the game clock hits zero.”
The anatomy of a comeback takes many forms, and for St. Ignatius, this comeback was of the full-squad variety.
Hummel threw for two touchdowns, his receivers being Tyran Hicks and Quinn Folk. Hogan rushed for a score; Steve Malone did, too.
“I’m just so proud of the team for battling,” said St. Ignatius head coach Lenny Vandermade. “Down 21-3 and having almost every reason to give up, but they just keep battling. This team is resilient. These young men are resilient. I’m just so grateful for them not giving up and not backing down.”
Going into halftime, the Wildcats had 18 reasons to give up, to back down. The Crusaders entered the break with a commanding 21-3 lead, having not trailed for a single second of the first two quarters. It wasn’t just the size of the deficit, but how said deficit was built.
Archbishop Riordan established control with a touchdown on its first drive of the night, taking a 7-0 lead as Adonyae Brown capped off a 12-play, 78-yard drive by leaping into the end zone for a one-yard rushing touchdown. The Crusaders doubled that lead when quarterback Michael Mitchell Jr. hit Judge Nash for a 44-yard touchdown, then tripled that lead when Mitchell connected with a wide open Cynai Thomas for a 23-yard touchdown.
The Wildcats got on the scoreboard in the final minutes of the second quarter as Odhran Kenny nailed a 33-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 21-3. They looked poised to trim that deficit to 11 points, marching down to the Crusaders’ one-yard line in the waning seconds of the second quarter, but the Crusaders’ Moses Vaenuku made a perfect read to come up with a deflating interception. Hogan refused to give up on the play, tracking down Vaenuku and pushing him out of bounds as the clock hit zero to prevent St. Ignatius from going down 28-3.
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“I was proud of Jarious for not giving up on the play, because that would be the difference right now,” Vandermade said.
“I just knew somebody needed to make a play and somebody needed him to stay out of that end zone,” Hogan said.
In the moment, Hogan’s effort felt more akin to delaying the inevitable. In retrospect, the chasedown was proof that St. Ignatius still had a second wind to unleash. Unleash it, they did.
Following a lethargic offensive first half, the Wildcats needed just six plays to rattle off their first touchdown of the night. Hummel found Tyran Hicks through the air for a 15-yard touchdown, and St. Ignatius had life.
21-10, Archbishop Riordan
St. Ignatius’ next offensive possession was even more efficient, more precise, needing only five plays to traverse 52 yards. Hogan waltzed into the end zone on a three-yard rush, and a three-possession deficit was down to one.
21-17, Archbishop Riordan.
Archbishop Riordan failed to add onto its lead; St. Ignatius responded by taking the lead altogether. With the third quarter coming to a close, Hummel scrambled to his right and lobbed a floater to Quinn Folk, who took the pass 62 yards to the house.
24-21, St. Ignatius.
The Wildcats weren’t done landing haymakers. On their fourth drive of the second half, they scored their fourth touchdown of the second half as Steve Malone reeled off a 56-yard run on the ground in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter — 31 unanswered points and counting.
31-21, St. Ignatius.
Archbishop Riordan, following stalled drive after stalled drive in the second half, finally had an answer as the clock raced towards zero. With roughly two-and-a-half minutes remaining, Mitchell lobbed up a pass to Thomas, who skied over his defender for a nine-yard touchdown and sliced St. Ignatius’ lead to 31-28.
The Crusaders still had an outside chance of mounting their own comeback, but the Wildcats mustered just enough yards to put the game away. On third-and-one at midfield with about 50 seconds remaining, Hogan rushed up the gut for three yards and put the game on ice. All that was left for St. Ignatius was to execute the best play in football twice: the quarterback kneel.
“You can’t put this into words, the way that we’ve come back from deficits where people probably thought the game was over,” Hummel said. “It’s just trust in our guys and trust in our coaches and being able to dig deep.”
Coincidentally enough, Vandermade and Archbishop Riordan head coach Adhir Ravipati made the same assessment of their teams, as a whole, following the game.
“Everything we want is still in front of us,” Ravipati said. “We just have to keep working hard. We know what we’re capable of. We just have to put it together for a full four quarters.”
“We have yet to play two full halves,” Vandermade said. “That’s kind of the message. We have to put two halves together.”
True to Vandermade’s assessment, St. Ignatius hasn’t been able to put two halves of quality football together. Over those same two games, they’ve played quality football when it matters most.