Riordan Tops St. Ignatius in Marathon
The Gil Haskell Trophy changed hands for the first time since 2018.
Considering that the Riordan Crusaders had waited six years for a win over the St. Ignatius Wildcats, an extra three hours was no big deal.
After those three hours, the Crusaders finally emerged with a 41-34 victory, reclaiming the Gil Haskell Trophy in a West Catholic Athletic League opener for both teams.
While the game was drawn out over three hours, with whistles to stop play for every reason in the book, the decisive sequence unfolded in just 17 seconds.
Freshman running back Isi Tuugamusu’s fifth touchdown of the day, which tied a WCAL record, gave Riordan (3-1, 1-0 WCAL) a 34-27 lead with 11:49 left, and when the Wildcats failed to get a clean handle on the ensuing kickoff, Crusaders sophomore Skylar Tiatia recovered the loose ball. Mike Mitchell Jr. connected with Boise State commit Tyrone Jackson on the next play, and Jackson shook a defender for a 23-yard touchdown to give the hosts a two-score advantage.
St. Ignatius (2-2, 0-1) never folded, even after a pair of turnovers on downs in the red zone. Brandon Mann’s 38-yard touchdown pass to Quinn Folk made it a seven-point game with 2:53 to go, but Tiatia recovered the ensuing onside kick and Jeremiah Jones, who split duties with Tuugamusu in the backfield, ran for a first down to ice the game.
“I’m just really proud of our kids for battling through adversity,” Riordan head coach Adhir Ravipati said. “We could have won this game by more, but our kids showed that they can win a close game, and they stepped up when they needed to.”
That adversity manifested itself in the form of nine penalties for 105 yards, including six personal fouls, a missed 28-yard field goal and three turnovers that led to 21 SI points.
Jake Boyden recovered a muffed punt late in the first, paving the way for a 1-yard Jarious Hogan touchdown run to put the ‘Cats up 10-7. Dash Crispen then intercepted a Mitchell pass two plays later, and Soren Hummel connected with Hogan on a 6-yard touchdown pass as time expired in the first quarter.
After Riordan had rallied to take a 21-17 lead on two more short Tuugamusu touchdown runs, a Daniel Leupold strip sack and Patrick Bruso fumble recovery set up another Hogan touchdown run, a 1-yard plunge after his 14-yard pickup on the prior play.
Tuugamusu found the end zone from a yard out with 2:53 left in the third, his fourth score of the day, to give Riordan a 28-24 edge, but a Tyran Hicks kick return and a 24-yard Hogan pickup on a screen pass paved the way for Odhran Kenny to cut the lead to 1 on his second field goal of the day, a 40-yarder where the westerly winds at Mayer Family Field helped to offset a bad snap that holder Luke Bianco had to corral.
Crispen and the rest of the SI secondary had largely capped Riordan’s big-play receiver threats to that point, forcing Mitchell to often settle for mid-range passes and checkdowns, but the sophomore found Foothill transfer Chris Lawson for a 56-yard gain on the final play of the third quarter. Tuugamusu then scored his fifth and final touchdown, and the Crusaders held a two-score lead moments thereafter.
Lawson and Jackson each beat the Wildcats deep once. Jackson finished the day with nine catches for 136 yards and Lawson had 97 yards on eight receptions, but it was junior Jacob Dubriwny who rounded out the receiver core for Riordan. With freshman Wesley Winn out injured, Dubriwny caught eight passes for 95 yards, including a swing that went for 31 yards to set up Tuugamusu’s first touchdown to answer a 45-yard Kenny field goal and give the hosts a 7-3 edge.
“Jacob is a fantastic football player, and he gets lost because we have these four or five guys at the receiver/DB spots that are highly recruited,” Ravipati said of Dubriwny, who was elevated from the JV squad in the middle of his sophomore season. “He’s a great football player, and he’ll play college football somewhere. He continues to make big play after big play this year.”
Mitchell finished with 352 yards on 29-of-41 passing. Tuugamusu ran 21 times for 71 yards while Jones rushed 10 times for 59.
“I was really proud of us for showing that we can string drives together,” Ravipati said of his team, which outgained the Wildcats 483-230. “We ran the ball effectively, something we hadn’t done so far this year.”
Hogan was the brightest offensive star for St. Ignatius, scoring three of his team’s four touchdowns. He ran 18 times for 110 yards and caught four passes for 47. The Wildcats used a two-quarterback rotation once again, with Mann completing five of six passes for 61 yards and Hummel completing nine of 22 for 60, though his completion numbers were far better before late-game situations where SI was forced to through.
“We fell short as a team,” Wildcats head coach Lenny Vandermade said. “We didn’t capitalize on mistakes, we committed untimely penalties, we don’t run the right track, we don’t block the right guy.”
Though SI yielded 41 points and nearly 500 yards of total offense, the trio of Bruso, Crispen and Leupold stood out on defense. Crispen rose to the occasion to fill the role that Gus Parker held for the 2022 team, matching up with top opposing receivers and taking away the deep ball.
“Dash competed his tail off,” Vandermade reflected. “The moment wasn’t too big for him.”
Tiatia’s 2.5 tackles for loss led Riordan’s defense, while freshman David Lee and senior Mikatoa Scanlan each recorded sacks.
“Last year’s loss was devastating,” Scanlan said, reflecting on the 35-14 defeat that ended his junior season. “This was for our brothers that got knocked off.”
Scanlan’s family donned both Riordan and St. Ignatius colors. His younger brother, LJ, plays for the Wildcats.
Both teams will be at home next week. St. Ignatius will welcome Bellarmine (1-3, 0-1) on Friday night in a rematch of last year’s CCS Division II Championship Game. Riordan hosts Valley Christian (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday.