By Dan McGrath

“Only” the Prep Bowl playoffs?

Not to the Leo Lions. They celebrated Thursday’s 13-10, double-overtime victory at Marmion as if it meant something. 

Because to them, it did. Something big. 

Dragging two tacklers with him, Ellison Cox crashed into the end zone from 10 yards out on the first play of Leo’s second OT possession to overcome the 10-7 lead the Cadets had taken with Josh Joy’s 20-yard field goal on their second OT series.

Regulation had ended in a 7-all standoff. Neither team scored on its first OT opportunity – Leo threw a deflected interception, then made amends by blocking Marmion’s 23-yard field goal try, which set the stage for Cox.

With their first postseason win of any kind since 2013, the Lions (4-6) earned a second-round game at St. Ignatius (2-7) on Friday, November 14.

“This is why the Prep Bowl playoffs are good for us,” first-year Coach Theo Hopkins said as his jubilant players whooped it up. “More reps. Keep working. Keep improving. Start winning.”  

As happens with young teams, Leo came close to giving away a game it had dominated.

Playing without punishing running back Joey Favia, who has turned his attention to wrestling, Marmion had precious little offense to show for 3 ½ quarters – Will Wilde had negative rushing yards as Favia’s replacement, and quarterback Vinnie Testa’s first five completions netted only 22 yards.

Leo, meanwhile, moved up and down the field to the tune of nearly 300 yards, but Derrick Davis’ one-yard touchdown on a “tush push” quarterback sneak  was their only score. 

Once again, penalties were the culprit. Jaivon Dale brought a punt back 68 yards for an apparent TD just before halftime, only to have the play negated by an illegal block that occurred 30 yards off the ball.

Three flags – for holding, a false start and a delay –  stymied the Lions as they sought to run out the clock and put the game away on their next-to-last possession.

Then the Leo defense – rock solid all evening – had a costly two-play breakdown. Testa found Aiden Miller over the middle for a 41-yard hookup to the Lions’ 30-yard line. On the very next play, Miller was totally ignored as he broke for the right corner of the end zone, where Testa found him for the game-tying score.

Davis, a senior, played like a guy who wanted to keep playing, completing seven of 14 passes for 84 yards and picking up 63 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Cox, a sophomore, ground out 82 yards on 17 tries, while junior Jubril Kannike’s eight carries produced 48 yards. Sophomore Trent Watson caught three Davis passes for 61 yards.

As they move on to St. Ignatius, the Lions will be bringing a weapon that’s totally new to them: a kicker. Freshman Sam Espinoza booted a PAT, was just short on a 36-yard field goal try and was denied an opportunity at a game-winning 24-yarder by a mishandled snap.

“He can really kick the ball,” Hopkins said.

Not since men wore leather helmets has such talk been heard around Leo. 

Next game: Friday, 6 p.m., at St. Ignatius.