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This week the 29th Annual Jesuit Bowl takes place at Strongsville’s Pat Catan Stadium as St. Xavier comes to town to do battle with rival St. Ignatius. This game is not only a yearly rivalry and the 23rd straight year the game has been played, but also a rematch of the 2016 OHSAA Division 1 championship game that the Bombers won 27-20 in double overtime. That was a game I was blessed to cover.
The Bombers come to town with a 7-1 record and looking to repeat the 62-37 victory over St. Ignatius they had last year. St. Ignatius comes in at 4-4 after back-to-back tough, down to the wire losses against St. Edward and Moeller.
The Bombers are 7-1 and undefeated 5-0 against teams from Ohio this season. Their lone defeat came at the hands of Trinity from Kentucky in a 33-32 nail biter. The Bombers bounced back last week with a 49-14 victory over perennial powerhouse La Salle and appear to be steamrolling towards another State Championship run.
Each team has a key to victory that they will need to turn to win on Saturday at 4pm. St. Ignatius will need to play “Marty Ball” once again. They have had a carrousel at quarterback this season as no one has been able to fill the role of the injured Joey Pfaff behind center. They have tried a little of everything including a Wildcat with wideout Anthony Thompkins but it simply hasn’t worked.
In their win over Hoban this season, 3 of their 4 touchdowns came from defense and special teams. In their game against St. Edward 1 of their only 2 touchdowns came from a blocked punt in the closing seconds. The Cats have shown very little offense outside of tailback Marty Lenehan. The crafty senior rushed for 90 yards last week against Moeller and scored all 4 Wildcat touchdowns. They will need to lean on him heavy once again to control the ball, and makeup for a shaken passing game.
As for the Bombers, they have done just that, Bombed away on offense! In 8 games, they have averaged 43 points per game. While St. Ignatius has relied on defense and special teams to compete, St. Xavier has used an impressive offense to blow teams out. In fact, in their 7 wins, their average amount of victory has been 40 points. They is a running clock, each and every time!
The man behind center this year for the Bombers is Brogan McCaughey. He is second in the GLC South with 1,737 passing yards. He has not thrown a single interception and has launched 21 touchdown passes in just 8 games. He is that good!
McCaughey isn’t the only threat the Wildcats will have to worry about this weekend however as the Bombers boast a stout running game with Charles Kellom leading the way. He has rushed for an outstanding 800 yards on 155 carries. He has been no stranger to the endzone, scoring 18 times already. St. Ignatius knows what he do very well as last year Kellom ran for 146 yards on them while scoring twice.
The Wildcats have an incredible defense and special teams attack this season, they will be up against a tremendous St. Xavier scoring attack. Something has to give!
