Nic Cull scores three times, St. Ignatius drops Westgate in junior semifinal

The Westgate Tigers went to their bag of tricks one too many times.

Trailing the undefeated, two-time defending champion St. Ignatius Falcons 2-0 at the half, having held them to just 17 yards of offence, the Tigers decided to try an onside kick to start the third quarter.

The Falcons recovered and Nic Cull made them pay, racing 47 yards down the right sideline on third down for the game's first major.

One possession later Cull blasted down the middle for a 57-yard score, handing the Falcons a 29-6 junior football win and a berth in their third straight final. 

“I felt good about it,” said Cull, who torched the Tigers for 186 yards on the ground, adding a third rushing touchdown from seven yards out in the fourth.

“It’s hard to keep a streak like that and it’s a lot of pressure, but I’m happy we’re keeping it going.”

Bogged down in their run game in the opening half, the Falcons were unstoppable in the second, running the ball at will over the fifth-seeded Tigers.

Cull said they tried not to think about the slow start as the game wore on.

“Of course we were worried. It was the closest game we’ve had all season. But I think we really needed it to remind our team that we’re not all that.”

The Falcons were out to protect a pretty impressive legacy that includes a winning streak that dates back to the 2011 junior final.

“I think we just really needed our team to have some motivation to get woken up.”

On his three-touchdown effort, all Cull would say was he wasn’t worried about personal stats. The end result was all that mattered.

“I wasn’t really doing it for me. I didn’t want the touchdowns, I just wanted to wake them all up,” he said.

Falcons coach Mike Savioli said it was a tale of two halves. He credited the Tigers for their strong play in holding the league’s best offence at bay.

But he also laid some of the blame at the feet of his players.

“Maybe we came in a little over confident, thinking it was going to be an easy game. But things change in the playoffs. It tightens up and our kids got a good lesson in being humble and hopefully we won’t have the same mistake made for finals,” Savioli said.

Cull wasn’t the only Falcons player who found the end zone.

Quarterback Jake Robertson, who spent most of the day handing the ball of to Cull and company, kept it himself midway through the third, racing to pay-dirt from 18 yards out, the Falcons third score in a 6:49 span that put them up 22-0 at the time.

The Tigers struck back in the third, finally getting on the board when Cayden Boucher, who led Westgate with 97 yards rushing, collected 78 of them on one play to score the team’s lone touchdown of the game.

The Falcons await the winner of Tuesday night’s other semifinal between St. Patrick and Hammarskjold.