Bishop Diego would love to bottle Saturday’s football performance and use it for the Tri-Valley League season.
The CIF-SS Northwest Division top-ranked Cardinals look ready to defend their TVL title after crushing San Diego Section small schools power Santa Fe Christian, 34-3 in Solana Beach.
It’s the second year in a row the Cardinals won the intersectional battle. SFC’s only loss in the regular season last year was against the Cardinals. The school advanced to the CIF Division 3 State Finals.
Bishop Diego dominated the line of scrimmage on Saturday, chewing up yardage on long drives to build a 28-0 halftime lead. They had touchdown drives of 65, 70, 50 and 73 yards in the first half.
The first-half scores came from four different players B.J. Murillo tallied the first one on a 48-yard pass from quarterback Gabe Molina for a 6-0 lead.
Bishop’s defense stymied the Eagles, and the offense went back to work. This time, the Cardinals drove 70 yards and Molina ran over from 1 yard. They converted a 2-point conversion to go up 14-0 with 3:11 left in the first quarter.
Bishop kept the pressure on SFC and scored again on a 13-yard run by Abel Gonzalez. Santiago Bollag kicked the PAT for a 21-0 lead with 1:45 left in the half.
The Cardinals got the ball back again, giving them an opportunity to run their two-minute drill. They ran it beautifully, going 73 yards and capping the drive with a 1-yard run by Danny Molina for a 28-0 lead with 32 seconds left.
There was no let up at the start of the second half as Bishop went on another long drive and scored its fifth touchdown on a 2-yard run by Ricky Herrera.
Santa Fe Christian avoided the shutout with a 50-yard field goal.
Gonzalez paced a balanced Bishop attack with 77 yards rushing on 8 carries. Anthony Carter rushed seven times for 80 yards and Murillo had 48 yards receiving and 45 rushing.
Now comes a super competitive TVL, where five teams are ranked in the top 10 of the CIF Northwest Division, including next Saturday’s opponent, crosstown rival Carpinteria at No. 4. The game is at SBCC’s La Playa Stadium.
