Down goes No. 1: Bellarmine Prep knocks off top-seeded Pasco to advance to 4A state championship

Before penalty kicks, a large crowd of Bellarmine Prep students raced from their seats to the fences that barricade spectators from the track at Sparks Stadium. Some tried to hop it, unsuccessful in their attempts.

The Lions were a penalty shootout away from a trip to Saturday’s state championship, with top-ranked Pasco standing in their way. The crowd was at fever pitch.

A 1-1 draw in regulation in the state semifinals on Friday night led to a pair of scoreless overtime periods, which led to penalty kicks. The Lions and Bulldogs converted each of their first two attempts. Then, Pasco’s Clemente Esquivel missed. That’s when Bellarmine’s Jaggar Judkins, the team’s leading scorer, could give his team the advantage.

He put the ball through the net to the pleasure of some 100 students who packed in to watch as close as they could. Judkins turned, and blew a kiss to the crowd.

“It just came out of nowhere,” he said. “They come out to support us. They pay all of this money. We just do our best to please them.”

Pasco would convert their fourth attempt, but Bellarmine’s Cael Tackett missed, which equalized the shootout.

Five kicks per team weren’t enough.

When Pasco missed its sixth and final attempt, sailing the shot high above the crossbar, Bellarmine Prep keeper Jayson Baldwin knew what Lions forward Joey Pereira would do next.

Pereira’s successful attempt found the back of the net, and Sparks Stadium erupted. Bellarmine’s players rushed to their home crowd, and celebrated as the home team moved on.

“That miss, it definitely was a blessing, because we got that opportunity,” Baldwin said. “I knew (Joey) could put it away.”

The Lions, ranked fifth in the 4A bracket, face No. 7 Skyline in Saturday’s state championship. Bellarmine Prep hasn’t won a title since 2008, when longtime coach Joe Waters led that team to the championship. The Lions also won in 2004.

“This group of guys does not want this to end,” said first-year head coach Jim Dempsey, who assumed duties after Waters stepped down last year. “They played for each other all season, and this is just a chance to play another game. … We’re just happy to keep it going.”

By the third minute, Judkins had found himself with two prime scoring opportunities, but couldn’t convert. He juked two defenders in the box on his first attempt but failed to shoot before Pasco swarmed him. The Bulldogs avoided instant disaster after Bellarmine took two shots on goal in the opening 45 seconds, missing both.

“I thought I could cut (them) with my left foot, but looking back, I should’ve taken it with my right,” Judkins said.

In the seventh minute, a scrum near Bellarmine’s box resulted in a Pasco shot on goal, which missed high. In the ninth, defender Liam Miller broke up a Pasco attack and cleared the ball to safety with only the keeper behind him.

Miller broke up another cross from Pasco’s Clemente Esquivel in the 16th minute.

Bellarmine scored first in the 21st minute after senior forward Christian Salas was tripped up in the opposing goalie box and converted a subsequent penalty kick. He paused midway through his approach to the ball, and poked the ball through the left netting. Flores dove right.

“The coaches give us a game plan every time, and we go out and execute it to the best of our abilities,” Judkins said. “We all play for each other. We play hard.”

Pasco’s defense deflected another of Judkins’ attempts in the 25th.

In the 32nd, Pasco’s Clemente Esquivel punched in the equalizer from only a few feet out, and Bellarmine’s lead became a 1-1 tie.

And only minutes later, the Bulldogs avoided catastrophe.

Flores slipped and fell during a 35th-minute goal kick, which dribbled weakly to a ready Salas. He punched the ball back toward Pasco’s goal, but missed wide right by a matter of feet.

Bellarmine entered halftime locked in a draw, 1-1.

“We had guys cramping up, we had all sorts of things going on,” Dempsey said. “And they just kept fighting.

“You don’t win with a bunch of individuals, you win with a group who plays for one another and never stops battling. And that’s what this team did.”

In the 45th, Esquivel curved a free kick from the right corner into a sea of teammates and opponents, which bounced up and missed high of the goal. Bellarmine failed to find a quality look until when Cael Tackett entered in the 52nd and rifled a shot from 30 yards out. The laser beam hit the high post and rattled back into play, where Pasco defenders cleared it to safety.

“Their defense is so good that when we had the opportunities, we wanted to take them,” Dempsey said. “Cael has that range. He can hit them from anywhere. He saw an opening, and took it.”

By the 65th minute, neither team had found a clear second-half look, though both had their fair share of decent chances. Pasco took a pair of free kicks from just outside of the box, but failed to convert either shot on goal. Locked in the same 1-1 draw in the 70th minute Bellarmine faced at the intermission, the urgency grew, and a crowd primarily made up of Lions supporters grew louder on every play.

That led to a scoreless overtime and six penalty kicks apiece before Pereira’s walk-off. By then, fans were live-or-die on each take.

Bellarmine (18-2-1, 10-0-1) claimed the 4A SPSL crown with an undefeated record, tying only once with Puyallup on April 28.

But the Lions’ depth, whose roster is packed with 10 seniors, propelled the Lions to the state championship. Judkins’ 12 goals represent a team lead. Twin brothers Jack and Peter Radovich, a defender and forward, respectively, bring senior experience to both sides of the pitch. Tackett, a senior midfielder, is considered Bellarmine’s “opportunity creator” for Radovich and Lion forwards.

“This is just a continuation of a huge tradition for this program. It’s really about this group of guys. I love being out there with them.”