Archbishop Mitty runs away with first win over St. Ignatius in eight years

SAN FRANCISCO A polite handshake line gave way to a postgame prayer at midfield Then the celebration began Eight years of frustration Danny Sullivan smiled the first words out of the coach s mouth after urgent away from his gang s hooting and hollering on the visitor s sideline For the first time under his watch Archbishop Mitty toppled WCAL rival St Ignatius on Friday night It wasn t even as close as the - final outcome would indicate The Monarchs - - got yards on the ground from senior Lazaro Faraj-Washington forced a trio of turnovers and held the Wildcats without a first down for the majority of the meeting The margin reached - with to play before Sullivan brought in the second stringers Mitty hadn t beaten St Ignatius since two years before Sullivan arrived on campus The Wildcats had won eight straight meetings between the schools and were crowned the CCS Open Division champions last season In the first conference championship of the season Mitty matched its win total from last year when it finished - in WCAL play We didn t really say how long it had been but we ve had enough older brothers come through and the message was kind of going around Sullivan revealed You never want it to go on that long It starts to become a burden and you start thinking about it Nobody had to inform Faraj-Washington whose older brother Zondre was on the last Mitty squad to beat St Ignatius He ran the ball times including three carries of -plus yards and another -yard gain topping total for the first time in his career It was just a lot of pent up we haven t beat these guys in eight years explained the running back who scored three times He informed me he was on the last gang to beat them so I had to make history repeat itself The schools previous three meetings were decided by one number and Faraj-Washington stated he blamed himself for last year s - loss after he fumbled on the goal line There were no close calls this year Faraj-Washington broke off a -yard run on one of the Monarchs first plays from scrimmage that set up a -yard touchdown strike from senior quarterback Joseph Engin The Wildcats responded with their own explosive play and points a -yard connection down the sideline from quarterback Bobby Gomez to Ty Hicks followed by a -yard touchdown run from Luke Tribolet to go up - Tribolet crossed the goal line with left in the first quarter St Ignatius wouldn t record another first down until there was less than minutes to go in the encounter Mitty s defense forced the Wildcats to go three-and-out four times picked off two passes including one returned for a touchdown and put more points on the board in the form of a safety Already up - at halftime Caden Kelly intercepted the first pass of the second half Up - early in the fourth quarter Mitty allowed St Ignatius to move the chains for the first time since its opening drive making it all the way to their -yard line but Kai Sniffen extinguished the threat and sealed the win with a pick-six he returned more than yards to make it - The way our defense moves and does things it creates a lot of confusion for an opposing offense Sullivan announced crediting the defensive line for creating havoc and allowing our linebackers to get where they need to be Related Articles No California remains undefeated makes a report with win over No McClymonds De La Salle s defense answers challenge shuts down St Mary s-Stockton in blowout win High school football Friday s Week scores Saturday s schedule Prep spotlight East Bay basketball standout chooses San Jose State Bay Area News Group boys athlete of the week John Leonard MacDonald football Mitty has finished the year with a winning record just once in the past five seasons But like against St Ignatius the initiative believes its fortunes are turning Maybe things haven t been great the last couple years Sullivan explained But we re trying to find our footing and our own identity and we re doing that Faraj-Washington went a step further I don t see us losing at all he disclosed That s the goal I don t want to see us lose any games