Sloppy Bishop beats Malibu

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Bishop Diego’s offense sputtered off sides, was constantly called for holding penalties and racked up nearly as much yardage from those penalties in the first half than it did from offense.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was somehow more than enough to steamroll over the Malibu Sharks in a 35-13 Frontier League victory last night at La Playa Stadium.

“It was ugly,” said Bishop Diego Head Coach Tom Crawford. “To get penalties like that, it just destroys your continuity.”
Crawford couldn’t be too mad however.
His team made plays when they needed them most and quarterback Christian Winnewisser tossed three touchdown passes and racked up a total of 300 passing yards.
Winnewisser and the Bishop Diego offense wasted little time putting points on the board after ticking off seven plays during a 76-yard drive that ended with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jeremy Kjar in the first quarter.
It was the only time the Cardinals would see the end zone during the first half.
On the first drive of the second quarter, Malibu leveled the score 7-7 after the speedy J.P. O’Fallon, who played running back, quarterback and kicker for the Sharks, took the snap and romped 21 yards for the touchdown.
For the remainder of the half, Bishop Diego’s biggest problem was not the Shark’s defense, but themselves.
On their last two drives of the half, the Cardinals ran eight plays for 32 yards, but were assessed five penalties for a total of 45 yards.
“The first half was just sloppy,” said Winnewisser.
The slop continued in the second half for both teams, but was cut down drastically by the Cardinals and offset by several big offensive plays.
With Bishop Diego receiving to open the second half, it appeared Crawford wanted his squad to get out in front early.
The Cardinals began a seven play drive at their own 43-yard line that was highlighted with a 27-yard pass on third down and four-yards out by Winnewisser to Art Gonzalez. Two plays later, Winnewisser handed the football to Eli Orosco, who stomped six yards into the end zone, which gave the Cardinals a 13-7 lead after a botched extra point attempt.
Malibu looked like they were getting the offensive engine running on the next possession, but after five plays, O’Fallon threw an interception at mid field to Bishop Diego’s Brian Georgi.
The Cardinal offense took over on their own 18-yard line. On the first play, Winnewisser fired a short pass over the middle to Aaron Skinner, who marched down field for a 72-yard touchdown. Winnewisser then found Kjar for a two-point conversion, which gave the Cardinals a 21-7 lead and rounded out the scoring for the third quarter.
The Cardinal faithful, who had been silent to this point, finally started making audible noise.
With 8:52 remaining in the fourth quarter, the Cardinal offense struck on the first play of the drive again after Winnewisser fired a short pass to Kjar on the left sideline, who weaved through half of the Malibu backfield and sprinted unscathed into the center of the end zone for a 70-yard touchdown, which gave Bishop a 28-13 lead.
“We got into rhythm,” Winnewisser said of the second half. “And just drove it down the field. We executed.”
But Malibu wasn’t quite ready to back down.
After the Bishop Diego kickoff, which was caught just beyond the 30-yard line, Malibu’s Jake Wisnicki emerged from a pile of bodies on his feet with the football and sprinted down field for a 65-yard touchdown run. The extra point attempt by the Sharks couldn’t find the uprights, which put the score at 28-13.
After seven plays, two of which were huge offensive gains by Kjar and were both called back by holding penalties, the Cardinals punted away with 4:52 remaining to play.
Three plays later at the Malibu 42-yard line, Malibu second string quarterback Sean Conrad tossed an interception to Bishop Diego’s Shane McCarthy, who sealed the win with a 45-yard touchdown run to round out the scoring.
With the win, the Cardinals now have a 7-1 overall record going into next Friday’s game against Santa Clara in Oxnard.
Crawford said he hopes his team will just focus on the game in front of them for the remainder of the season and said he doesn’t know why his team struggled so mightily in the first half.
“I was disappointed that we were just so sluggish,” he said. “They taught us that we’ve got to earn stuff.”