Prep Football: Branson reclaims NCS dominance with win over Stuart Hall

“Earn everything!” Branson School football head coach Jerome Saddler shouted to his Bulls players during Saturday’s championship showdown.

The Bulls (8-2) fought for every yard and every score during a 40-24 victory over rival Stuart Hall (10-1) at San Francisco’s Boxer Stadium. And in the end, the Bulls earned the North Coast Section eight-person Division I crown.

“That win was so important to us,” said Bulls senior quarterback Tom Lardner, who racked up 162 yards on 16 for 25 passing against a big Knights defense. “We had a mentality that we needed to finish the job we started last year.”

Branson lost to Stuart Hall, 70-60, in the 2023 semifinals, interrupting the Bulls’ championship streak. Branson has now won the NCS title in four of the six years it has been contested. The Bulls won the inaugural NCS 8-person title in 2018 and then again in 2021 and 2022.

“Our team leaders really stepped up this year,” Saddler said. “Also, building a new culture for these guys and building on that culture within the team was a big part of this season. … We have about 15 seniors on this team and they just wouldn’t step down. They literally left everything out here.”

Alec Ritch, a member of the first Branson football team in 2016, graduated before the NCS 8-person playoffs were created. But he returned this season, along with former San Marin High standout Tyler Guin (2016-20), as assistants to head coach Jerome Saddler to help a new class of players achieve their goal.

“I played for this team, and it’s just like I remember it stepping onto this field,” said Ritch, whose 2016 team went 6-0, including a 74-54 win over Stuart Hall.

Said Guin, “It’s unlike any other feeling to be out on the football field, regardless of whether you’re playing or not. You always feel like you’re back in the moment with these kids, and you just want them to shine.”

The Bulls were covered in mud from the rain-soaked field, but still found a way to shine as they avenged an 40-34 loss to the Knights in October.

“Stuart Hall has a big offense and they score a lot of points,” Lardner said. “Our mentality is to limit their big playmakers. We put Mo Jacoby on their best guys and he did a heck of a job defensively. Again, it was just the plan to limit the big plays and try to create turnovers.”

After their first two offensive drives died in the red zone, the defense got Branson on the board with a safety as the Bulls brought down Knights senior quarterback Rhett Sypult near the end of the first quarter.

Lardner connected with Jacoby for back-to-back touchdowns of 8 and 10 yards to push the Bull’s lead to 18-0 midway through the second quarter. Lardner’s lob to Colby Buxton resulted in a virtually uncontested 34-yard touchdown play for a 26-0 lead that held up into the break.

“Jacoby and Buxton were really MVPs for us in this game,” Ritch said. “We trusted them the whole time to put the game out of hand and to finish it for us, and it worked.”

Guin added, “Jacoby, on both sides of the ball, you can’t ask for a better look.”

Jacoby caught five passes for 50 yards and senior Chase Hoeveler had seven catches for 63 yards. Buxton carried the ball 27 times for 134 yards and Lardner ran eight times for 43 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown run to start the fourth quarter.

“I know that every time I make a play, the sideline responds, the team responds,” Jacoby said. “The big plays really feed the energy for this team.”

Branson’s hard-pounding defense recovered three fumbles while holding Stuart Hall scoreless through the first half. The Bulls defensive unit, with senior Julian Barnes, junior Max Billington and sophomore Holden Cane kept the pressure on Sypult, who was sacked three times for 17 yards and fumbled three times.

Jacoby was in on 20 of Branson’s tackles, highlighted by a big hit for a loss on Sypult in the third quarter that ended the Knights’ drive. He drew the curtain on the game with a sack on fourth down in the last minute.

“We knew that we were going to get after them,” Ritch said. “Our guys executed the plan perfectly. The biggest thing is, we made them earn every yard.”

Sypult still managed to air out the ball for 214 yards on 22 of 33 passing. Senior Max Denning stepped up for 127 yards on 12 catches, including a 33-yard touchdown to get the Knights on the board in the third quarter. Sypult added 73 yards on 15 carries, with two touchdowns.

After a pair of passes sailed through the end zone untouched, Sypult on fourth down scored on an 8-yard run late in the third quarter to cut the Bulls lead to 26-16, adding some extra fuel to what could have been a much bigger rout.

Branson came right back to score on Buxton’s 16-yard run to start the fourth, but the 2-point pass attempt came up short, leaving the door open for the Knights who still trailed by two scores.

The Knights got new hope when Sypult eluded the Bulls, who were looking for another sack, and scrambled for a 10-yard touchdown to make it an eight-point game with 8:53 left to play.

Buxton carried the ball and his teammates on the Bulls’ next possession, a 65-yard drive capped by his 3-yard push into the end zone to help put the game out of reach and to secure his first NCS title.

“The younger guys know now what Branson football is, and what NCS is all about,” Lardner said. “I think they’re going to carry on the tradition and win more titles.”