The Bishop’s School Knights won the 2010 California State Bowl championship. Two of the team’s South County players on that squad — lineman Kohl Simonds and quarterback Joey Moreno — are now coaches with the Knights.
That 2010 Bishop’s team finished 14-0.
The 2016 team, seeded second in the section playoffs, improved to 13-0 following last Saturday’s 49-20 romp over the top-seeded Christian Patriots in the San Diego Section Division III championship game at Southwestern College. As a reward, the Knights will travel to Cerritos on Saturday, Dec. 10, to take on Valley Christian (13-2) in a Division III-A Southern California regional playoff contest. Kick-off is 7:30 p.m.
The winner will advance to the state bowl championship game the following weekend.
This year’s Bishop’s team has the opportunity to secure a school record 15-0 finish if it keeps winning.
“It feels good to finally get back,” explained Simonds, the team’s linebackers coach. “This is the first group of guys I started coaching as freshmen.”
Moreno is in his first year as an assistant coach.
“It feels great,” the former Knights signal-caller said. “The whole staff is pumped up more than anybody.”
Bishop’s features more than a half dozen South County standouts on this year’s current 13-0 team.
They include freshman wide receiver/cornerback Clarence Freeman, sophomore center/middle linebacker Dominic Haley, freshman wide receiver/cornerback Amaan Banks, junior wide receiver/cornerback Mozes Mooney, senior Isaiah Anderson, junior wide receiver/outside linebacker Isaiah Dawson and senior middle linebacker Justin Woodley.
Mooney, a graduate of the Imperial Beach Chiefs youth football program, scored three touchdowns to lead the Knights past the Patriots in a battle of unbeaten teams, while Woodley scored two touchdowns.
Mooney caught 10 passes for 127 yards and rushed three times for 20 yards while Woodley caught eight passes for 107 yards and had four carries for 18 yards.
The play of the two South County standouts proved critical in the win.
Woodley scored the first touchdown in last Saturday’s CIF title game on a two-yard run and later scored on a 33-yard pass play. Mooney scored on TD catches of 13, 29 and 23 yards.
Woodley made three tackles for losses on defense while Mooney had one interception.
“It’s the best feeling — the best,” Woodley said.
“We played as a team, we played together,” Mooney added.
Garth Erdossy (48-yard interception return) and Jacob Jackson (nine-yard scoring pass from brother Jeffrey Jackson) rounded out the scoring for Bishop’s with one touchdown each. Daniel Masaad was successful on all seven extra-point conversions.
Jeffrey Jackson was near perfect at quarterback. He completed 29 of 33 passing attempts for 329 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
Jacob Jackson led the Knights with 82 rushing yards on 12 carries and caught six passes for 52 yards.
Joey Morones (12 carries, 56 yards) scored three touchdowns to lead Christian (12-1) while Jesse Mathews scored on a two-point conversion.
Meanwhile, Bradley Jeremiah completed 11 of 24 passing attempts for 182 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
Benjamin Goodwin led the Pats with five catches for 56 yards. Morones caught one pass for 60 yards while Mathews had two catches for 44 yards.
Stat attack
Mooney leads the Knights in scoring with 155 points and 25 touchdowns — 17 receiving, five rushing, two interceptions returns and one kick-off return. He has racked up a team best 1,479 all-purpose yards.
Woodley ranks second in team scoring with 115 points and 17 touchdowns — 12 receiving, two interception returns, two rushing and one fumble return.
Defensively, Mooney leads Bishop’s with seven picks while Woodley leads the team with six sacks to go with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries.
Knights advance to state championship bowl game
Bishop’s recorded a 28-9 victory over Cerritos Valley Christian in Saturday’s Division III-A Southern California regional playoff game to advance to the state bowl championship game at a site to be determined.
The Knights won the 2010 state Division IV championship.
South County standouts on Bishop’s 2016 team include Justin Woodley and Mozes Mooney. Woodley caught four passes for 58 yards while Mooney had four catches for 44 yards. Isaiah Dawson, another South County standout on this year’s Bishop’s squad had four catches for 80 yards.
The Knights (14-0) generated 357 yards it total offense, scoring 21 points in the second half after leading 8-3 at halftime.
Quarterback Jeffrey Jackson passed for 235 yards and two touchdowns — one each to Woodley and Dawson.
Bishop’s will meet Northern California regional champion Oakdale (13-2) in the state bowl championship game to be played at a site in San Diego County to be determined.
The six San Diego Section divisional champions all earned regional playoff berths — four won to continue their seasons in state bowl championship games. Cathedral Catholic, Madison and La Jolla Country Day also will play for state bowl titles.
