High School

California thriller: St. Ignatius beats Sacred Heart Cathedral on game's final play

Forty-yard field goal by Thomas McKeon — 'No one else' — ends wild comeback win for the Wildcats in Central Coast Section Division 2 championship to decide West's oldest rivalry game

Mitch Stephens

St. Ignatius in the afterglow after a wild last-second walk-off comeback win over arch-rival Sacred Heart Cathedral at San Jose City College
St. Ignatius in the afterglow after a wild last-second walk-off comeback win over arch-rival Sacred Heart Cathedral at San Jose City College / Courtesy St. Ignatius High School


SAN JOSE — The school’s biggest sporting event in at least 14 years — maybe longer — was clearly coming down to the right foot of Thomas McKeon and rather than treat him like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter his St. Ignatius football teammates kept pumping him up. 

Especially Declan Mahoney. 

With the score tied in the final minute, the backup senior receiver, without a catch on the season, gave McKeon a pep talk for the ages. Or at least the moment, one that will be bronzed in gold for decades in San Francisco's Sunset District.

“He kept saying, ‘no one else — There’s no one else! I trust but you to come through in this spot,’ “ McKeon said. “He said ‘I’m so excited for you. You’re gonna drill this thing and we’re going home.’ “ 

“Drill’ wasn’t the perfect description, but McKeon made a prophet of Mahoney.

The 6-foot-3, 190-pound kicker lofted an end-over-end kick that cleared the crossbar by a few feet on his 40-yard attempt on the final play of the Wildcats’ wildly improbable, back-and-forth 24-21 victory over arch-rival Sacred Heart Cathedral for the Central Coast Section Division 2 championship. 

His fifth field goal of the season (in six attempts) was his longest by two yards, setting off a celebration worthy of any championship game multiplied by the 130 years the two schools have been playing football, making it the oldest rivalry West of the Mississippi in the country. 

High school football California
St. Ignatius senior kicker Thomas McKeon minutes after his game-winning 40-yard field goal lifted the Wildcats to a 24-21 win over Sacred Heart Cathedral Saturday at San Jose City College for the 2025 Central Coast Section Division 2 crown. / Photo by Mitch Stephens

It was the second win over the Irish in four weeks, the previous one was 23-14 to close the regular season. The Wildcats now advance to next week’s CIF Northern California Regional Bowl Games for a second straight year. Pairings will be announced Sunday. 

It was also the second win in as many games the team's have met for a section crown. The other was in 2011, a St. Ignatius 21-14 win when a kid named Danny O'Malley scored the game-winning touchdown for the Wildcats.

Yes another Irish kid doing in the Irish. Granted Mahoney's role was in a supportive role Saturday. But McKeon appreciated the faith. And the celebration.

“Sheer joy,” is how McKeon described it. “I was getting tackled and I couldn’t even take my helmet off. It was so fun. There is no group of guys I’d rather share this with.” 

The moment

The field goals was set up when Sacred Heart Cathedral’s punter tried to pick up a first on 4th-and-7 from the Irish’s 46 with 2:31 to play. He was stopped cold for no gain, setting up a short field. 

First-year St. Ignatius coach JaJuan Lawson kept the ball on the ground five straight plays with strong, shifty back Steve Malone ripping off a key 14-yards gain, setting up the heroics for McKeon, a former wide receiver and full time soccer player. 

Lawson was confident the moment wouldn’t be too big for McKeon. 

“I’ve seen Tom hit field goals of 46 and 47 yards in practice,” Lawson said. “He’s made every kick all year but one and he’s an All-League kicker for a reason. We knew he had it in him. ... When you have a kid who was a receiver growing up, he understands the moment. The moment wasn't going to be too big. He's going to have fun with it.” 

The moment wouldn’t have been possible except another hero emerged six minutes earlier just when the Irish (6-7) looked like it might salt the game away. 

Senior linebacker Charlie Ball, the team’s leading tackler and emotional leader, picked off an Michael Sargent’s fourth-down pass with 5:47 remaining and returned it 62 yards for a touchdown giving the Wildcats (7-6) new life. 

Irish control

Sacred Heart Cathedral had survived a 90-yard kickoff return for touchdown by sophomore Hawkes Packard to start the second half by taking a 21-14 lead on Sargent touchdown passes of six yards to Zion Secrease and 13 yards to Chase Jenkins, the latter with 9:46 to go. 

The go-ahead score seemed to fire up the Irish defense which got tackles for losses by Jenkins and Jiraya Bellamy setting up a three-and-out followed by a short St. Ignatius punt near midfield. 

Three runs put the ball at the St. Ignatius 40 fourth down and two. The Irish went for it, but moved early, making it 4th-and-7.  Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Antoine Evans was faced with a tough call. 

“I was going to punt the ball but we had a play,” he said. “I don’t know what happened but the play got changed. And then the pick 6 happen. … I should have punted the ball. … Bad call by me.” 

Out of body

Ball made the perfect call, jumping a route he said assistant coach Myles Holmes had planned against all week in preparation.

“I’ve been looking at that play for a while,” he said. “We called blitz on the play. We were manned up. I knew (the pass) was gonna come to that side on a slant and I just jumped it. I’ve been looking at that play for a while it felt great to make it.” 

The return was even greater. He got a big block on Sargent by sophomore Jack Riedy “and then it was open field. It was awesome,” Ball said. 

Ball, who averages nearly nine tackles per game (the next nearest tackler on the team is 5.0), made a huge third-and-2 stop for a loss on the last play of the third quarter.

“You’re going to live and die with your best players," Lawson said. "Our job is to put them in position to make plays and that’s what he did. We had the right call on. … and he saw it, he reacted, he picked it and his return is something I'm sure he’ll tell you is an out of body experience.

"It was one of those situations where great players make big time plays in big time games.” 

Both teams, both with big time players, made plays all day. Back and forth. 

Finishing

It was all Irish to start, taking advantage of a muffed punt after a 3-and-out, going 42 yards in 11 plays, capped by a 1-yard touchdown sneak by Sargent, making it 7-0. 

After a three-and-out by St. Ignatius, Sacred Heart Cathedral ran out the first quarter and eventually drove all the way to the St. Ignatius 9. But a 24-yard field goal hit the left upright and missed early in the second quarter. 

It was a series of near misses for the Irish that proved decisive.

Despite running off just three plays to that point, St. Ignatius trailed by only a touchdown and eventually tied it up on a 1-yard plunge by Malone with 54 seconds left in the half., capping an 8-play, 40-yard drive.

 The Irish didn't rest and immediately sprinted down field, keyed by a 36-yard run by Legend Williams (23 carries, 126 Yards), moving all the way to the St. Ignatius 27 with three seconds left.

Sargent, determined and brilliant all day, rolled right and just as he was hit hard by Tucker Jones, he fired a strike to the end zone where Valentino Fierros made the catch but was blasted by — who else — Ball one yard short of the end zone as time expired.

That tackle, as much as McKeon's field goal and Ball's pick 6 was the difference.

When Packard, who hadn’t returned kicks since Week 3 to focus on pass catching, took the second-half kickoff the distance, the Wildcats somehow had the lead.

Lawson, the team’s offensive coordinator last year, but took over when head coach Lenny Vandermade left for Santa Margarita, said the game reminded him of the Wildcats’ season arc. 

“We started off slow, found our footing, battled back and were able to finish,” Lawson said. 

Evans, unfortunately, had to console a lot of seniors who were hoping to beat the Wildcats for the first time since 2022, a span of four losses.

“I’m proud of the way they played today,” Evans said. “They held each other accountable. They played with passion. The played with Irish pride. But it came down to a couple of decisions as why we lost today. I take responsibility for that.

“I told the team to keep your heads up. You changed the end of your season. We had a tough WCAL season But to come into the playoffs and beat a really good Wilcox team and undefeated Santa Teresa team to get here and play the way they did against a hot SI team, they should be proud of themselves.” 

Sound of victory

They no doubt would have felt prouder had McKeon missed and the Irish won in overtime.

But McKeon thought the sound of the kick sounded true. Plus he'd been practicing the moment all season, devoting all his football attention to kicking.

It was McKeon's second game-winning kick in high school, after ending a junior varsity game against Mitty as a sophomore.

"As soon as I kicked it, it was straight," he said. "I just hoped I had enough leg. I've been practicing it the whole season so I wasn't surprised."

As the Wildcats kept running the ball and the Irish pulled off some stops, "I thought we might not get in the end zone. I might have to go out there," he said. "I was pretty nervous but my teammates were comforting me. I was fine then."

According to Mahoney, no one else would have been.

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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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