La Jolla Country Day football marks homecoming by defeating The Bishop’s School, 51-34

By Michael Ragovin

“No game matters as much as the Country Day-Bishop’s game,” according to Coach Jeff Hutzler of La Jolla Country Day School. Based on the level of participation by players, coaches and parents on Oct. 26, 2012, this was definitely the varsity football game of the year for both teams, as well as homecoming for the Country Day Torreys.

It was an exciting, big play football game that was a lot of fun to watch.

The scoring began on the opening play as The Bishop’s School Knights kicked off and Sage Burmeister scored on a 99-yard touchdown return for La Jolla Country Day School. Burmeister had an outstanding game rushing for touchdowns of 18 yards, 13 yards, 50 yards and 79 yards totaling 242 yards for the evening.

Bishop’s came right back and scored on a 19-yard pass from Michael Hinkley to Bulla Graft. The extra point failed, making the score Torreys 7, Bishop’s 6.

Country Day then scored three unanswered touchdowns: Jimmy Prosser on a 2-yard run, Sage Burmeister on an 18-yard run and Nate Michalski on a 27-yard run with a fumble. Country Day next recorded a safety to bring the first quarter scoring to a close with the Torreys 30, Bishop’s 6.

Scoring in the second quarter included a 13-yard run by Burmeister for Country Day and a 5-yard pass from Hinkley to Graft for Bishop’s. This concluded scoring in the first half with the Torreys 37, Bishop’s 12.

Bishop’s out-scored Country Day in the second half 22 to 14. A.J. Britanico had scoring runs of 50 yards and 15 yards for Bishop’s, and Bulla Graft scored on a 70-yard fumble recovery. Country Day scored on two Burmeister runs; one for 50 yards and the game breaker 79 yards with less than five minutes to play.

On the defensive side, there were several players who had outstanding performances. For the La Jolla Country Day School Torreys, Josiah Poutoa had an amazing 17 tackles and a blocked extra point, while Josh Church recorded 12 stops.

The Bishop’s School had some excellent performances as well. Bulla Graft was outstanding on both offense and defense recording 158 yards rushing while scoring two touchdowns and making eight tackles on defense. A.J. Britanico had 80 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Defensively, Michael Hinkley had seven tackles while Drew Malkiewicz had six.

All in all, it was a hotly contested, hard-fought football game that was definitely worth watching.