San Mateo Daily Journal's Game of the Week:Serra football set to welcome a new era of Bellarmine ball

Not that Bellarmine’s breakout performance this season doesn’t seem familiar to Serra head coach Patrick Walsh. While the Bells are off to a 4-0 overall start, including a 1-0 record in West Catholic Athletic League play after last week’s 38-6 lambasting of Riordan, the smashmouth style that has the program off to its best start since 2016 reminds Walsh of the not-long-gone glory era of Bellarmine football under longtime head coach Mike Janda.

“That’s what I see on film is old, tough, disciplined Bellarmine,” Walsh said.

The reason for this is Beauchman is a Janda disciple, having coached in the Bellarmine program under Janda as the head coach of the freshman Bells in 2019, after having played for Janda at the San Jose private school from 2002-05.

“He’s had an opportunity to take what he learned from Coach Janda, who is a legendary Bellarmine coach … and take that Bellarmine mentality and get it back into the system,” Walsh said.

It has been a few years since Bellarmine has managed to put up a fight against Serra. The Padres have shut out the Bells in each of their last three matchups — 48-0 in 2017; 43-0 in 2018; and most recently a 37-0 win in 2019. Serra has won four straight in head-to-head play, with Bellarmine last earning a victory in 2015 in a 36-28 nail-biter.

This year figures to be a different story as the Padres are off to a fast 3-0 start. After having their Week 1 game at Pittsburg canceled due to poor air quality, the Padres have outscored opponents 126-21, most recently shutting out Mitty 38-0 in last week’s WCAL opener.

Senior multi-back Hassan Mahasin enjoyed another big week, scoring four touchdowns for Serra. Alternating between the backfield and slot receiver, he has totaled 11 touchdowns in three games this season. Walsh praised Mahasin’s nose for the end zone, calling the senior “greedy” for touchdowns, a trait the Padres encourage in their scorers.

“That’s a learned trait and that’s an earned trait, and he’s done that throughout his lifetime in his preparation to get ready for games,” Walsh said.

Bellarmine boasts a greedy scoring threat out of the backfield of its own in Ben Pfaff. The bull-like 5-11 junior has rushed for nine touchdowns this season while averaging 104.5 yards per game on the ground.

While Bellarmine’s blocking schemes on the offensive line are layered in all sorts of complexities, Pfaff’s running style has been fairly straightforward. His most noteworthy trait is his creativity in breaking tackles, but a majority of his runs stay between the tackles, and he is at his best when he explodes through gaps created by mismatches up front.

Bells quarterback Wade Smith is also a running threat. The senior has accounted for 10 touchdowns this season, six by way of passing and four via the ground. He’s completed passes at a 56.4% clip this season — his best target being 5-10 senior Thomas Divittorio — while on the ground, the QB averages 61 yards per game.

“It’s a two-headed monster at that spot with the quarterback, who runs really well,” Walsh said. “Overall comprehensive toughness is what you’re depicting right there, running downhill, running over players, and running with a purpose, blocking with a purpose.”

Serra counters with senior defensive end Ryan Mahe, who has been a glue guy up front. Walsh said he has been “very satisfied” with the Padres’ defensive play this season and was quick to highlight Mahe as one of the three-tier defensive squad’s top performers.

Walsh wasn’t nearly as glowing about his linebacker corps, a department where Serra has traditionally excelled but this year touts a young group still trying to find its identity. The secondary, however, has been exceptional, Walsh said, led by safeties Malakai Hoeft and Joseph Bey, senior cornerback Sione Laulea, and the versatile senior defensive back Andrew Stewart.

The key WCAL matchup will be Serra’s third straight Saturday game, a day on which the Padres traditionally excel. In the spring’s abbreviated five-game schedule, Serra played four Saturday games, two at home and two on the road. Their only Friday game last season was a 33-26 victory in the season opener at Valley Christian. In the remaining four games of 2020-21, all Saturday games, Serra yielded a cumulative 23 points against Sacred Heart Cathedral, St. Francis, Riordan and St. Ignatius.

“Obviously when you think of high school football, you think of Friday night lights,” Walsh said. “Obviously at Serra you can’t think that way since we don’t have lights. So, for us, since that’s the reality of the situation, we have to love Saturday afternoons. But generally, we respond to Saturday afternoon well.”