St. Ignatius shocks San Mateo Serra 21-20 in wild West Catholic Athletic League opener

Jarious Hogan sprints home from 30 yards out with 1:14 to go to hand Padres their first WCAL loss since 2021

St. Ignatius Jarious Hogan (6) gashed Riordan for 114 yards and two touchdowns and had three catches for 44 yards and another score in a 41-34 loss in 2023. / Photo: Paul Ghiglieri/St. Ignatius

Soren Hummel is sort of a long shot. And the 6-foot, 205-pound quarterback knew his St. Ignatius football team would be also heading into Friday's West Catholic Athletic League opener at home against two-time undefeated champion Serra.

Hummel, who entered ninth grade having previously played tight end and defensive end, turned himself into a quarterback and earlier this week committed to Division 3 school Bowdoin College, a less than football power nestled in the Northeast corner of Brunswick, Maine.

Final: St. Ignatius 21, Serra 20

Serra’s Hail Mary falls short and the Cardiac Cats have done it AGAIN.@SorenHummel leads @SIscores back from a 13-point deficit and @jarioushogan26 ran for the go-ahead 30-yard touchdown with 1:14 left. pic.twitter.com/Havx31H5W5

— Ethan Kassel (@KasselMedia) September 28, 2024

On Friday, Hummel and his Wildcats (3-1) hit the big time with a stunning 21-20 victory.

According to updates from Ethan Kassel, Jarious Hogan took a delayed handoff from Hummel and sprinted home for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:14 remaining to go up 21-20, the Wildcats' first lead since the first quarter.

Three completions from Hummel, two to Quinn Folk put the Wildcats in business.

St. Ignatius senior quarterback Soren Hummel, shown here in a season-opening game against San Ramon Valley, threw for 180 yards and two touchdowns Friday in a big 16-14 win at Cathedral Catholic of San Diego. / Photo: Jim Malone

From there the defense, came through to snap Serra's 14-game WCAL win streak and drop the Padres to 1-3. They had lost two previous lopsided wins to state-ranked St. John Bosco (56-16) and De La Salle (39-10).

Serra, who had to replace 18 new starters from its Northern California top-ranked team, opened the season with a surprising 22-21 win at Folsom.

“They have new players but it’s still Serra and they're gonna have a bigger chip on their shoulders because people might think they’re down,” Hummel told us heading into Friday's game. “We don’t think that. Serra and SI is a big rivalry game. It’s going to be close.”

A rivalry perhaps, but a one sideded one. Serra had won 18 of the previous 20.

A Chase Wiley interception set up a short field and four straight runs from Hogan, the last one being from 1-yard out to give St. Ignatius a 7-0 lead midway throught the first quarter.

Serra tied it at 7-7 when offensive lineman Jonah Alapati took a handoff and scored a short TD early in the second quarter. The teams exchanged interceptions, a second one from Wiley, but the bigger one came from Serra's Malakai Taufoou, who returned it 16 yards to give the Padres a 13-7 lead.

Chris Yoon's 16-yard touchdown late in the third quarter put Serra up 20-7 and the Wildcats seemed in trouble. But a 41-yard return by Ty Hicks set up a 13-yard touchdown from Hummel to Zui Shelton on fourth-down with 8:49 left.

The game-winning drive started at the St. Ignatius 17 with 2:57 remaining.

The last time St. Ignatius beat Serra was also by one point, 14-13 in 2019. That one Serra went for a 2-point conversion very late to win, but was stopped short.