'These kids play hard.' St. Xavier takes North Bend Road bragging rights over La Salle

It might not have been great on style points but St. Xavier's Long Blue Line was happy to hoist a trophy Friday night with a 16-7 win over Greater Catholic League-South rival La Salle in Monfort Heights.

The Bombers, who never trailed, move to 3-5 on the season while the Lancers fell to 2-6. It was also St. Xavier's first league win this season.

With the scoreboard hitting triple zeroes, St. Xavier earned the right to hoot and holler in their 5.2-mile ride back to Finneytown from Monfort Heights. As it has since 2020, the "King of the Road" trophy will stay with St. Xavier.

"You're excited for the kids any team you get a victory," St. Xavier coach Steve Specht said. "We're two programs that have been struggling a little bit and it was a classic GCL-South matchup. These kids play hard."

The Bombers broke a three-game skid that began with a narrow loss to No. 1 Moeller Sept. 16. The Bombers will need to defeat Cleveland St. Ignatius Saturday, Oct. 15, then Life Christian Academy of Virginia the following Friday to finish the season at .500.

"The push right now is for the second season," Specht said.

That said, the veteran coach admitted the trophy was still important.

"It's bragging rights for a year for the seniors," Specht said. "It's given us a little momentum."

For sophomore Chase Herbstreit, it was his first varsity win behind center. He did so with ESPN GameDay, in effect, on hand as his father Kirk Herbstreit and his show partner Pat McAfee were on the sideline. The duo posed for photos in between pulling for St. Xavier. Post-game they were bound for Lawrence, Kansas.

The young Herbstreit was 7-for-14 passing for 90 yards and was helped by a solid St. Xavier running game. Juniors Steve Napier and Patrick Gage led the charge as Napier had 94 yards and Gage 72. Both found the endzone on short plunges.

"We came in here with a good game plan," Herbstreit said. "Their defense was completely different than what we thought so we had to make a lot of adjustments at halftime. We got it done."

Defensively, St. Xavier had a shutout until the third quarter when sophomore quarterback Patrick McLaughlin put the ball in junior Koy Beasley's hand from 54 yards away to briefly cut the game to 9-7.

St. Xavier led 9-0 after a quarter but didn't score again until late in the fourth quarter. A Herbstreit-to-Napier pass put the Bombers at the 1-yard line and Gage finished the drive and iced the game.

La Salle had one more shot with the ball but the drive ended with a sack.

Senior Andrew Devine and junior Ted Hammond each had 10 tackles with Hammond adding 1.5 sacks on the night. The highly-recruited defensive lineman recently visited Notre Dame and is set to be at the University of Cincinnati's Homecoming game with South Florida Saturday.

"It was a big win for the defense and a big win for the offense," Hammond said. "We have our up and downs but we've got to work up from here and we're on a roll. Watch out for us in the playoffs."

The Lancers outgained the Bombers 334-254 and outpassed them 332-90. St. Xavier dominated the ground game 164-2.

After winning their first two games, La Salle has dropped six straight. They will be at Detroit Central Catholic Saturday, Oct. 15. Their last sub-.500 season was 2018's 4-5 mark.

Mason Mattingly started at quarterback going 15-for-20 passing for 178 yards, but McLaughlin finished going 13-for-20 for 154 yards and the lone touchdown to Beasley. There may be a change coming at the position.

"He's our guy definitely for next year," La Salle coach Pat McLaughlin said of his son. "We'll make a decision after this week but probably tonight indicated the direction we're going to go. Mason (Mattingly) is such a great kid. We'll find somewhere on the field for him."

St. Xavier 16, La Salle 7

La Salle 0 0 7 0 7

St. Xavier 9 0 0 7 16

StX - Safety kickoff fumbled out of the endzone

StX - Napier 1-yard run (Cengia kick)

LS - McLaughlin 54-yard pass to Beasley (Luensman kick)

StX - Gage 1-yard run (Cengia kick)

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: St. Xavier High School football beats La Salle in rivalry game