The Bomber football team loaded the buses and embarked on a four hour bus ride to Cleveland, Ohio this past Saturday to take on perennial power, Cleveland St. Ignatius Wildcats. It was a cold, windy and rainy day but the Bombers bounced back from a difficult loss to rival LaSalle High School to beat the Wildcats 13-10.

 
The Bombers opened the game on offense and made a statement with their first drive. Starting with the ball on their own 22 yard line, the Bomber offense, undaunted by the weather conditions, proceeded to march 78 yards in methodic fashion for the first score. On the drive, senior quarter-back Matthew Rueve completed passes to three different receivers; senior tight end Marshall Lang, senior wide receiver, Owen Smith and junior wide receiver, Drew Britt while senior running back Kellen Newman and junior wide receiver, Liam Clifford added yards from the running game. The drive was capped off with Newman's one yard rushing touchdown over the right side of the line. Unfortunately the point after was blocked but St. Xavier held the first lead of the game 6-0.
 
The Bomber defense made an equally impressive statement on the ensuing drive by holding the Wildcat offense to a negative four yards in three plays. After trading punts, the Ignatius offense took command with their second drive down to the Bomber 20 yard line. On a second and 10 play, the Bomber defense dialed up a pressure blitz and junior linebacker Matt Devine forced a quick throw by the Ignatius quarterback, senior Griffin Hanna that was intercepted by senior safety, Drew Klas at their own 18 yard line. The Bomber offense was able to push the ball out to the Igna-tius 39 yard line but a series of penalties and a sack for a loss of eight yards pushed the Bombers back to their own 34 yard line where they had to punt. That ended to first quarter with the Bomb-ers holding on to a 6-0 lead.
 
The second quarter opened with Ignatius on offense. In four plays, the Wildcat offense moved the ball to the Bomber 29 yard line where they were forced to attempt a 46 yard field goal. The kick sailed wide right and the Bombers took over on their own 20 yard line. The Ignatius defense promptly held the Bomber offense to a loss of nine yards in three plays and the Bombers were forced to punt.
 
The Ignatius offense took over with good field position on their own 48 yard line and proceeded to run 11 plays in a little over four minutes to score their first touchdown of the day.. The point after was good and the Wildcats took the lead 7-6.
 
The Bomber offense took over on their own 28 yard line and constructed an eight play drive down to the Ignatius 25 yard line. Unfortunately a Rueve pass was batted around and ultimately interce-oted by Ignatius's senior safety, Emmett Hanna and returned to the 46 yard line. The Ignatius of-fense took advantage of the great field position by driving to the Bomber 21 yard line. On a second and six play Hanna was pressured by the St. Xavier defensive front and threw a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by senior cornerback, Wiles Dolle with :19 left in the half. The Bomber offense took a knee to end the half. The Wildcats of St. Ignatius held a 7-6 lead.
 
The second half began with the Bombers kicking off to the Wildcats. After a deep kick to the two yard line, senior defensive back, Dominic Devengencie made a nice return of 37 yards to the Ignati-us 41 yard line. The Ignatius offense proceeded to run 10 plays for 57 yards down to the Bomber two yard line where the St. Xavier defense held firm and forced a field goal. The Ignatius lead in-creased to 10-6.
 
After the kickoff, the Bombers started the drive on their own 27 yard line but could only muster 10 yards in six plays and wre forced to punt.
 
The Bomber defense returned the favor by forcing an Ignatius punt and the Bomber offense took over for what would end up being the final scoring drive of the game.
 
Taking over on their own 20 yard line, Rueve immediately found Clifford for an 18 yard gain to the 38. On the next play Rueve found Lang down the left sideline for a 43 yard gain to the Ignatius20 yard line. Rueve then found Lang once again for a 20 yard touchdown strike. The point after was good and the Bombers took the lead, 13-10 for good.
 
The Bomber defense started the fourth quarter where they had left off forcing another Wildcat punt. The Bomber offense, hoping to run some clock ran 12 plays covering 56 yards that ended on a fourth down incompletion. After giving up a 27 yard completion, the Bomber defense forced an Ignatius fumble that was recovered by junior linebacker, Matthew Devine. Armed with solid field position at their own 41 yard line, the Bomber offense ran 12 plays covering 26 yards down to the Ignatius 22 yard line. Electing to go for it on fourth and nine, a Rueve pass fell incomplete and the Ignatius offense took over on their own 22 yard line with 5:08 left in the game.
 
Aided by a pass interference call on a third and six play, the Wildcat offense drove down to the St. Xavier 23 yard line with less than :20 seconds left in the game. On a third and 10 play, the Bomber defense dialed up an all out pressure blitz and senior linebacker, T.J. O'Malley sacked Hann for an eight yard loss. With fourth and 18 staring them in the face, Coach Kyle elected to attempt a 47 yard field goal into a cross wind and rain. The Bombers used their final two timeouts to attempt to add pressure to the kicker. The snap was solid and the kick left Daclan Mangan's foot heading left. The crosswind started pushing the kick back to the right and for a minute it looked as if the game was going into overtime. However, the kick fell roughly 2 yards short and the Bombers recorded their seventh win of the season and secured a home field game in the playoffs.
 
The Bombers now set their sights on traveling to the other St. Xavier team from Louisville, the St. Xavier Tigers.