What started as a promising evening for Villanova quickly turned sour as Bishop Diego stormed back from a 14-point deficit to take the Frontier League matchup 35-22 on Friday night at Nordhoff High School.
The victory clinched second place in league for Bishop Diego and an automatic playoff berth, guaranteeing the Cardinals a trip to the postseason after a two-year absence. Bishop improves to 5-4 overall and finishes its league schedule with a 3-1 mark. Villanova falls to 4-5 and 1-2 in league.
Sean Rothfuss opened up the scoring with a touchdown reception in the first quarter as the Wildcats built a 14-0 lead by the start of the second quarter. But Bishop retaliated with 35 straight, beginning with scoring runs of 2 and 8 yards for Brandon Gonzalez.
Cardinals sophomore Troy Skinner gave Bishop Diego its first lead in the second quarter on a 12-yard pass from Nolan Tisdale. A 21-14 halftime lead ballooned to 35-14 before Villanova’s Jackson Doyle punched one in late in the game to finalize the score.
Jack Gregson posted a 36-yard touchdown run and Bruce Garcia added the other Bishop score on a 5-yard run.
Villanova moves on to face league champion Grace Brethren next Friday.
Bishop Diego meets Carpinteria next week in a rivalry game between two playoff teams.
“It’s a big game, it always is,” said Bishop Diego assistant coach Matt Capritto.
