NorCAL BOYS: No. 9 St. Ignatius Wins First-Ever WCAL Title

With No. 9 St. Ignatius Prep trailing by two late in the third quarter against No. 19 Bellarmine Prep in Friday afternoon’s Western Catholic Athletic League championship game, Wildcats head coach Chris Packard turned to his star player, Virginia-bound senior middie Rob Emery, and he made a plea for help.

“I sort of looked at Robby and said, ‘If there’s ever a time for you to stake your claim as being the best player at SI, now is the time,’” Packard said.

Emery answered the call.

Emery immediately picked up a ground ball, split two defenders and scored to bring St. Ignatius Prep within a goal. The Wildcats then won the ensuing face-off and tied it before the end of the quarter, and it was all St. Ignatius Prep in the fourth.

When it was all said and done, the Wildcats came away with a hard-fought, 16-10 victory over the Bells in the inaugural WCAL championship game.

Unlike the North Coast Section, San Diego Section and Southern Section, the Central Coast Section has no postseason tournament.

“We’ve never had an end-of-the-year championship, so it was the first time we’ve ever had a game where everything rode on one game,” Packard said. “We were nervous and tight, and it took us a while to get going. But once Robby got going, we piggybacked on his athleticism.”

Emery finished with five points on three goals and two assists, and junior attackman Jack Bodine finished with a game-high six points on five goals and one assist to lead St. Ignatius Prep (20-2) to its 17^th straight win.

In defeat, junior attackman Kevin Weigand and junior attackman Austin Pridham each had a team-high three points on two goals and one assist for Bellarmine Prep (16-5), which lost to St. Ignatius Prep for the third time this season.

In Friday’s title game, the score was tied, 2-2, at the end of the first quarter, 3-3, at halftime and the Bells led 8-6 late in the third when Packard called upon Emery, whose goal brought St. Ignatius Prep within 8-7. It was 8-8 at the end of the third, and the Wildcats scored eight goals in the final 12 minutes to run away with the title.

“In the fourth quarter, we proved we were ready to answer the call,” Packard said.

In all three St. Ignatius Prep-Bellarmine Prep games this season, the Bells let a lead slip away.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed with the loss and disappointed with how we finished out the fourth quarter,” Bellarmine Prep head coach Brad Lipscomb said. “We played strong and contended for three quarters. Credit to SI. They came after us in the fourth, and they won the ground balls.

“They took our lunch money in the fourth quarter.”