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St. John Bosco Overpowers St. Xavier

CINCINNATI: St. John Bosco (CA) comes to Cincinnati and dominates St. Xavier, 34-0, in the Skyline Chili Crosstown Showdown at Nippert Stadium Saturday.

The game was delayed an hour, but that did not slow down the team from Bellflower, California. St. John Bosco (CA) scored on its first two possessions behind the performance of junior quarterback Re-Al Mitchell.

St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht

St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht

Mitchell opened the scoring with a 98-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter, and followed that with a 69-yard touchdown pass to senior Northwestern commit Berkeley Holman to take an early 14-0 lead. In the first quarter alone, Mitchell ran the ball twice for 102 yards and a touchdown, and went 4-7, 105 yards and a touchdown.

The Bombers had opportunities but a fumble in the red zone on their opening drive, an interception, and three missed field goals, all in the first half hurt their chances to stay in this game.

“It was a group effort tonight,” St. Xavier head coach Steve Specht expressed after the game. “We are not very good right now, but we are going to get better. We have things we can improve on, but reality is that is a good football team.”

St. Xavier made adjustments following St. John’s Bosco’s first two scoring possessions, but the Braves scored 10 quick points late in the first half. Senior running back Terrance Beasley scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, which capped an 80-yard drive. The Braves added a field goal with six seconds left in the half after senior quarterback and Penn State commit Sean Clifford threw an interception on the first play of the next possession.

“In a game like this we had to try and prepare for a lot of things, we saw things we have never seen and that is on me,” said Specht. “I am going to go home and watch film and get better and encourage my kids to get better.”

Clifford tried to play through a foot injury, but was replaced by junior Chase Wolf to start the second half. The offense combined for 148 total yards.

St. John’s Bosco, which is ranked 19th in the country, scored on its opening possession a minute and half into the second half when Mitchell found Holman for their second touchdown pass of the night. This time the pass was a 53-yard connection. That scoring play forced the Ohio running clock rule into effect when a team trails by at least 30 points.

Mitchell finished the game 10 of 19 for 204 yards and 121 yards on the game.

St. Xavier was without guard and Clemson commit Matt Bockhorst after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament in July, and most likely miss the season.

“We are young and very inexperienced, but we got some great experience today, which is positive, but the negative is that it is not going to get easier.”

Next week, the Bombers host Colerain, who squeaked by Warren Central (IN) Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals scored the game-winning touchdown with just over a minute left in the game.

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