Central Coast Section: Arizona State-bound RL Miller leads Sacred Heart Cathedral to historic win

Sacred Heart Cathedral's football team had never defeated Bellarmine two straight seasons. 

In fact, before Friday's 30-17 West Catholic Athletic League victory over the Bells at Kezar Stadium, the Irish had defeated only beat Bellarmine three times. And the teams have been playing since the 1940s. 

But RL Miller had so much to say about that, scoring three touchdowns in three different ways, leading the Irish (5-3, 3-2) to the gritty win. The Irish were coming off an emotional 10-0 win over arch-rival St. Ignatius in the Bruce-Mahoney game. 

Miller, an athletic and opportunistic 6-foot-2, 185-pound 3-star linebacker, caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Aidan McGrath on a conventional post pattern. 

His two defensive touchdowns were absolutely spectacular. 

On a fourth-down play near midfield, Miller blitzed quarterback Nate Escalada, who threw a quick screen to the right. Miller leapt into the air and didn't just bat the ball away, but he snapped it up and 47 yards for the score, giving SHC a 15-10 lead in the second quarter. 

After Bellarmine took a 17-15 lead early in the third, Miller gave the Irish the lead for good 22-17 with his TD grab. Then he made the play of the night, intercepting a Scadina pitch and returning 22 yards for another score, midway through the third for the game's final touchdown. 

It goes down officially as a fumble return and score. 

Miller came into the game with 26 catches for 577 yards and six touchdowns on offense, and 21 tackles, three interceptions, five pass deflections and two pick 6s. 

He and Oregon-bound Jerry Mixon Jr. make up perhaps the best linebacking duo in Northern California. 

Kendric Sanders had a 62-yard touchdown for the Irish, who last season won the school's first state championship with a 4-A title, winning six straight games after starting the season 2-7. 

Bellarmine (3-5, 2-3), missing the team's top player and rusher Ben Pfaff, got touchdown runs from Jake Hanson and Brandon Broch. The Bells have been hard by injury.