HS Football: Emerald Ridge wins 6th straight in blowout of Bellarmine

10/17/22
By Alex Benzegala

Emerald Ridge 45, Bellarmine Prep 16

(Puyallup, WA) On a night where the Emerald Ridge Jaguars looked to remain in a tie in first place in the 4A SPSL standings while the Bellarmine Lions aimed to stay in the hunt for the final playoff spot, it was the Jaguars who used big plays to turn away the Lions 45-16 at Carl Sparks Stadium.

After forcing a 3-and-out on Bellarmine’s first drive, Emerald Ridge drove down the field and struck first on a short Logan Lisherness TD run, and a Brady Peterson extra point made it 7-0 in the 1st.

Lukas Kokich fumbled after making a catch on a swing pass on the the ensuing Bellarmine drive to give the ball back to ER, but the Jaguars turned it over back as Jake Schakel threw an INT.

On the very next play, a miscommunication between Bellarmine QB Dawson Hendricks and center resulted in a 50-yard scoop-and-score by Jaguars defensive tackle Bam Afalava gave Emerald Ridge a 14-0 lead.

The Lions fought back to get on the board on the ensuing Bellarmine possession, but the long drive stalled in the red zone, and Jacob Hundven kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut the Emerald Ridge lead to 14-3.

ER scored the final 14 points of the 1st half with Schakel TD passes to both Gio Kafentzis and Tony Harste that made it 28-3 Jaguars at the half.

Bellarmine had life to start the 2nd half after forcing an Emerald Ridge turnover seconds into the 3rd quarter, but again the Emerald Ridge defense got a stop and Schakel found Kafentzis again for a deep touchdown pass to make it 35-3.

Bellarmine continued to play hard, as the Lions scored their first TD of the game in the 3rd quarter on a Dawson Hendricks pass to Andrew Johnson to cut the lead to 35-10.

Emerald Ridge dodged a major bullet on the next Jaguar drive as Schakel tried to fit a pass into tight coverage that a Bellarmine defender read perfectly and almost took to the house, but instead it was dropped and a Brady Peterson 24-yard field goal to make it 38-10.

Brandon Snell intercepted a Hendricks pass for an ER TD, the 4th Bellarmine turnover to make it 45-10 and ice the game.

Bellarmine did score a Touchdown on one of the wackiest plays I have ever seen to end the game, as the snap to punter Jacob Hundven went over his head and into the endzone, where Hundven then proceeded to run around the back of the endzone and throw it up near midfield, where Andrew Johnson caught it and ran to the endzone alone to make it 45-16 the final.

Emerald Ridge had 140 rushing yards on 27 carries, with Logan Lisherness leading the way with 8 carries for 54 yards, and Tayshaun Micks with 51 yards on 7 carries.

Jake Schakel’s final passing line was 16-25, 3 TD’S, 1 INT and 240 yards. The ESN Player of the Game went to Gio Kafentzis with another monster stat line, 10 catches for 135 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tony Harste had 4 receptions for 69 yards and a score.

For Bellarmine, Joey Bambrick paced the Lions with 14 carries for 40 yards, and 4 receptions for 43 yards but the Jaguars did a good job against the run all day holding Bellarmine to just 61 yards on the ground on 31 carries. Andrew Johnson had a big game in the receiving game for the Lions though with 151 receiving yards and 2 TD’s on 5 catches. The 4 turnovers by the Bellarmine offense hurt the Lions as well, as Bellarmine gave up a season high 45 points.

Emerald Ridge outgained Bellarmine in total yards 370 to 284. Penalties did hurt the Jaguars at times, as ER committed 11 penalties for 100 yards, to just 2 penalties for 10 yards for Bellarmine.

The win for Emerald Ridge improves the Jaguars to 6-1 in the 4A SPSL to set up a huge game against 5-2 and defending 4A State Champions Graham-Kapowsin on Saturday. Bellarmine drops to 2-5 overall and plays 6-1 Puyallup in their next game on Saturday.