As if a 55-0 win against rival Carpinteria last Friday wasn’t impressive enough, the Bishop Diego Cardinals (5-2) one-upped themselves Friday with a 61-14 non-league football victory over Fillmore (1-6) at La Playa Stadium.
Six different players scored touchdowns as the Cardinals’ offense totaled over 500 yards on the night and scored a touchdown on every possession.
“The guys have done a nice job of turning their focus on executing things we should be able to execute,” said Bishop Diego head coach Tom Crawford. “From a coach’s perspective, it’s just nice to see everybody being able to play and contribute.”
Bishop Diego was on fire from the start, with junior running back John Harris breaking tackles en route to a 50-yard carry on the first play of the game. Senior quarterback David Gladish then connected with junior Evan McKeegan on a touch pass over the middle that McKeegan took 20 yards to the end zone.
McKeegan scored his second touchdown on a 7-yard carry on the next Bishop drive. He also scored on a 48-yard screen pass later in the first half from Jake Engel. McKeegan ended the night with 79 total yards on 5 touches with 3 touchdowns, matching his touchdown hat trick last week.
Gladish connected with tight end Michael Agnoli on a pass over the middle that Agnoli took to the house, breaking multiple tackles and rumbling 38 yards to the end zone. Touchdown runs of 22 and 26 yards from Mark Soracco and Ashton Borgeson, respectively, put the Cardinals up 34-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Fillmore showed some signs of life early in the second quarter, putting together a 7 play, 74-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a 9-yard run by Daniel Tafoya, making the score 34-6.
Bishop promptly responded, with Harris scoring from 7 yards out less than 2 minutes later. Harris notched 180 yards rushing on only 9 carries on the night, putting him over 1,000 yards on the season.
An Engel-to-McKeegan screen pass rounded out the scoring in the first half, with Bishop up 48-7.
Gladish went 5 of 6 on the night, with 98 yards passing and 2 touchdowns. Engel finished 2 for 2 with 73 yards and a touchdown for the Cardinals.
The second half of the game was comparatively quiet, with Soracco scoring his second touchdown of the game on a 23-yard carry and David Barrios scoring his first touchdown of the season on a 5-yard carry up the middle.
Fillmore quarterback Christian Cisneros laced a perfectly placed 24-yard pass to receiver George Tarango as time expired for the final score of the game. Cisneros finished the night going 6 of 13 for 75 yards and a touchdown. Tarango hauled in 4 catches for 65 yards.
Bishop Diego’s defense was mostly impenetrable, allowing 169 total yards and forcing 8 punts on the night. Linebackers Borgeson, Chris Jablonka, and Sten Carr were forces to be reckoned all game long, as were defensive linemen Harrison Wilkinson, Luis Mendez and Eduardo Miranda.
“For us, it’s been something we’ve known since last year,” said Crawford. “For us to be successful, our line play on both sides of the ball has to be a key for us. We have experience returning on both sides. If they can control the line of scrimmage on offense and defense and make plays, we’re going to be fine.”
Bishop Diego has a bye week before starting Tri-Valley League play on Oct. 22 at home against Nordhoff (2-4).
“We’re hoping that we get some guys that recuperate,” Crawford commented. “We still have to be a little more physical than we are and trust our assignments a little bit more. The good news for us is that a lot of those things we’ve been working on are things that are in our control.”
Fillmore travels to Carpinteria on Oct. 21 after a bye week to begin Frontier League play.
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.