BC Pride Reaches Section Championship
Nov 27, 2024 01:49PM ● By Alejandro Barron
Samuel Danilyuk makes the tackle on a Ripon Christian Knight during Bradshaw Christian’s quarterfinal matchup on Nov. 15. Danilyuk on defense led the Pride with 11 tackles against the Linden Lions in the semifinals on Nov. 22. Photo by Alejandro Barron
ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - The Bradshaw Christian Pride took care of business against the Linden Lions by a score of 40-15 on their home field in the pouring rain on Nov. 22 to advance to the Division VI CIF Sac-Joaquin Section championship game.
The Pride put together 484 offensive yards while the BC defense surrendered just two scores to return to the championship game, where they came up just short last year.
“It’s awesome to get a chance to go play in the championship,” said head coach of the Pride Drew Rickert. “Our program strives for that and these kids have worked their tails off all year long and it’s cool to see them get a little bit of a reward for what they’ve done.”
The Pride rushed for 310 yards with 179 of those coming from senior Nathan Zeppieri with coach Rickert giving recognition to his offensive line for “blocking their tails off.”
“I think the offensive line did a great job,” senior Ethan Rickert said. “We ran the ball a lot tonight in crazy conditions and they did a great job leading the way for us.”
The Pride jumped out to an early lead and led at halftime by a score of 22-0. They would tack on another 18 points in the second half despite the pouring rain.
“We worked on some wet ball situations during the week so we were definitely prepared and I think we did a good job executing and making sure we take care of the ball,” Ethan Rickert said.
Zeppieri, Brandon Burden, Ethan Rickert and Mateo Mojica all stepped up as the seniors on the team to each have a rushing touchdown with Burden rushing for two touchdowns.
One of the individual performances that coach Rickert recognized was the leadership of Ethan Rickert who completed three passes on four attempts for 125 yards on the offensive side of the ball, and two interceptions on defense along with six tackles.
“He led us and had a couple of touchdown passes but it was more the leadership that was more impressive to me than anything else,” coach Rickert said.
Besides Ethan Rickert, junior Samuel Danilyuk had an interception along with leading the Pride with 11 tackles while Evan Rickert and Devyn McDonald II recorded sacks.
“Defense all year has been playing loud all year and tonight was no different,” coach Rickert said. “We had three picks coming down towards the goal line and they don’t make mistakes and they’ve (Linden) been scoring a ton of points and we did a good job of holding them.”
The scores that the Pride defense surrendered came in the opening drive of the second half after a fumble and in the last drive of the game for the Lions.
The Pride will move on to the championship game against a familiar foe, the Sonora Wildcats, who they faced last season in the semifinals in a 22-21 nailbiter.
“We respect that program a ton. They’re very good and very well-coached. We know we have our hands full, and we’ll go out there and try to give them a good game, coach Rickert said.
As for Ethan Rickert, he said that they should approach every game differently and take every game one step at a time.
The Pride will look to continue their perfect season, as they are now at 12-0, in the section championship game at 11 a.m. Nov. 29 at Sacramento City College.
Although this could be seen as redemption for their loss last season, coach Rickert does not see it that way.
“It’s a whole new page. These kids are just wanting to do the best they can,” coach Rickert said.
