The adjoined-dorm rivalry heated up Tuesday when Stanford recaptured the Chapel in a 12-8 victory over Keenan.
The battle of unbeatens started slowly, with Stanford punting after a long drive into Keenan territory.
Keenan's first drive ended with an interception thrown by freshman quarterback Brian Castello. Stanford sophomore Chris Gill returned the ball to the Keenan 8 yard-line.
The Griffins almost blew the strong field position when a muffed snap pushed them back 17 yards, but junior David Costanzo filled in at quarterback for one play and immediately threw a 25-yard touchdown to Griffins senior Matt Frankenfeld.
"I saw that they were jumping the deep post route," Costanzo said. "Matt ran a good route and got open."
Stanford missed the two-point conversion to keep the score 6-0.
Keenan responded two drives later after freshman Jamie Koepsel made an interception.
Castello called an audible at the line of scrimmage, and junior Jim Zenker streaked across the middle to catch a 70-yard touchdown pass. Junior Alex Gonzalez converted the two-point conversion to take the lead 8-6.
Junior Andres Villalba ended Stanford's next drive with another interception, and the Knights took the lead into halftime.
The second half began as a defensive battle with both teams going three-and-out.
Then Stanford junior quarterback Brian Salvi took over the game.
Salvi completed four passes to freshman Kevin Ritt to drive the ball down to the Keenan three yard-line.
"They could not guard our wide receivers," Salvi said. "They had a linebacker on one of our receivers every play and he could not keep up."
"The offensive line kept off the pressure, and Salvi got me the ball," Ritt said.
Senior running back Tregg Duerson punched the ball in to give the Griffins a 12-8 lead.
And the Knights could not find the end zone again.
Sophomore Alex Deak sacked Salvi, giving the Knights one last chance to drive the ball down the field, but a sack on Castello allowed time to run out and let Stanford capture the No. 1 seed going into the playoffs.
"The offensive line really protected me," Salvi said. "I only got hit once."
Losing to their biggest rival left an impression on the Knights.
"The loss makes me sick to my stomach," Villalba said.
Keenan coach Matt Gibson saw many deficiencies he wants his team to work on in preparation for the playoffs.
"We need to eliminate the mental mistakes. We got out-played, out-hustled, and out-everythinged, Gibson said. "We needed the wake-up call. Now come the playoffs and it is gut-check time. Look for a different Keenan team in the playoffs."
Dillon 12, Alumni 0
Dillon came out firing in the second half of its game Tuesday to beat rival Alumni.
The game was called after the first half on Oct. 18 due to a thunderstorm, with the score tied at zero and the teams at just 32 combined yards. Dillon sophomore quarterback Joe Garigliano threw two interceptions and neither team could sustain a drive.
The Big Red, who had already clinched a playoff berth, knew that to improve their seed from eight to seven, they needed to win by 14 or more points.
"Our offense was struggling in the first half before fall break," Dillon captain Alex Duffy said. "We knew we had to score 14 points ... so we came out with intensity."
Dillon received the ball to start the second half and drove down the field, capping off a 65-yard drive with a touchdown run by Garigliano. Garigliano finished with 10 carries for 58 yards.
After Dillon's defense forced Alumni to go three-and-out on the next drive, the Big Red returned a punt to Alumni's 16 yard-line. Sophomore running back Josh Stull took the next play in for a score to put Dillon up by 12.
"I was very pleased with how the offense played in the third quarter," Duffy said.
But the Big Red were unable to increase their lead and will be the No. 8 seed in the playoffs.
"I think we're going to come in under the radar," Duffy said. "I have no doubts that we can come out and beat any team out here if we play the way we're capable of playing."
