Chaminade Prevails Over Bell-Jeff

Jang Kim, Jang Kim, Jang Kim. It has a nice ring to it. At least Chaminade coach Rich Montanio thinks so.

Montanio called on Kim all night, and the senior tailback responded by providing almost two-thirds of Chaminade’s total offense and scoring all of his team’s points as the Eagles beat Bellarmine-Jefferson, 13-10, Friday night at Pierce College.

Kim carried 27 times for 171 yards, scored one touchdown and booted two field goals and one extra point. If that wasn’t enough, when the game was on the line late in the fourth quarter, he single-handedly ran most of the last five minutes off the clock to preserve his team’s slim lead.

Chaminade, relying primarily on the run, controlled the ball for most of the game. The Eagles enjoyed a 13-3 cushion with just more than six minutes left.

To that point, Bell-Jeff had generated only 61 yards of offense and had not come close to scoring since a game-opening drive that went 35 yards and ended with Pete Vucurevic’s 42-yard field goal.

Then the Guards showed a surprising spark of offense and drove 64 yards, including two 30-yard receptions by receiver Fernando Gauna, to score a touchdown and suddenly close the gap.

The Guards got the ball back with 30 seconds left, but their last-second bid was nipped in the bud when Robert Bae intercepted a Bell-Jeff pass.

The interception provided an appropriate finish to what had been a dominant performance by the Chaminade defense.

Defensive linemen Matt Snyder, Gary Boudreau and Terry Siciliano spent most of the evening in Bell-Jeff quarterback Keith Fitzgerald’s jersey. The trio collected three sacks and often hurried Fitzgerald into poor throws.

The Bell-Jeff quarterback finished with a sub-par 5 of 24 for 72 yards and one interception.