St. Bernard Remains Unbeaten With Win Over Bishop Montgomery

St. Bernard quarterback Christian Smith threw six touchdown passes to lead the Vikings to a 49-34 win Friday night over Bishop Montgomery.

Smith had a season-high 475 yards passing last week against Mary Star and continued his hot hand, throwing for 261 yards, tossing six touchdowns and giving up no interceptions.

“Oh my God. This means a lot to us,” Smith said post game. "We've been undefeated all season, but no one gave us any respect. We still felt we had to prove ourselves and we did that tonight.”

Receivers Josh Hill and Christopher Mack caught all six of Smith’s touchdown passes and running back Devin Barnes made Bishop Montgomery respect St Bernard’s running game by gaining 103 yards in 13 carries.

Even after a penalty-prone first half, Coach Larry Muno was confident about his team.

“I think we played pretty horrible first half and to be tied at 21 is promising. If we can stop their run, we’ll be alright," he said at halftime.

Coming out in the second half, St Bernard scored 14 points in a span of 2:35 with a Smith touchdown pass to Mack. The ensuing onside-kick was recovered by Khamani Edwards, which led to a 4-yard touchdown pass from Smith to Hill, to take control of the game.

“I’m the inside runner," Barnes said. "The coaches told me if there was nothing there to just bounce out to the outside. It feels good being 10-0. This is the first time. We made history for St Bernard. I’m a senior, but I think next year, they’re going to take it all the way again.”

Muno creditied his team's conditioning as a factor in their second half success.

“This is my alma mater, so it was tough coming in here and beating them, but it was special. It was very special. I love these kids," Muno said.

Bishop Montgomery's star running back, Michael Turner, left the game with a first quarter shoulder injury. Blake Ault stepped in and carried the running game with 43 rushes for 187 yards, keeping Bishop close through the second half. It turned out, however, to be too much of a hill for Bishop Montgomery to climb.

“Losing him (Turner) was a tough blow, especially since he’s 80 percent of our offense. But our team played hard. They've been good about adversity all year and they came back strong," said Bishop Montgomery Coach Ed Hodgkiss after the game. "It was a battle. But St. Bernard is a talented team and they deserved to win today.”

Winning was great, but for Smith the best part of the post-game celebration was leading the team in their Maori ancestral Haka dance.

“It is an honor. This was the first time for me to lead this dance," he said.

St Bernard (10-0, 6-0) and Bishop Montgomery (6-4, 5-1) each have earned playoff spots. They must wait until Sunday’s CIF SS rankings to see who they play next week.