Jack Brady ran into the excited St. Bede huddle and asked his team, “How does that feel? How does that feel?”

Their faces and yells said it all after an opening night 47-6 blitz over Bureau Valley.

Stuart McGunnigal raced for a 33-yard touchdown on the Bruins’ second play from scrimmage and AJ Hermes added a Pick 6 for a 65-yard interception return to give the Bruins a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The Bruins built a 33-0 halftime lead and added a quick score in the third quarter to trigger the running clock and hand Brady a victory in his head coaching debut.

“It feels amazing. It’s a great way to start the season, you know,” McGunnigal said. “Sets the tone. I think we’ve got a great road ahead of us.”

“That was a feeling I’ve never had before,” Bruins senior quarterback Gino Ferrari said. “We worked so hard all summer long. Every practice we’re busting it. To get that win and blow them out like that, it feels great.

“(Brady) probably felt a little nervous tonight. To go out and do that, it felt great.”

Brady couldn’t have asked for a better start at the helm of his alma mater.

“This is a program-wide win. I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and the work they put in,” he said. “We had bumps in the road in the summer and the preseason and they never faltered man. They did everything I asked of them and I’m so happy for them.

“I give all the credit to my coaches and my players. So much support for me and it all came together tonight.”

It was the touchdown run by McGunnigal that sparked the Bruins early when he got past the Storm defense and turned it upfield along the left sidelines.

“Carson (Riva) took the corner, (I) saw the hole, I took it. That’s how we roll,” McGunnigal said.

“Stu is a good-gadget back. He’s long legged and he can move,” Brady said.

Ferrari was excited to see McGunnigal scoot to the end zone.

“I saw Stu get out there and score that first touchdown, I was like, it’s time to go now. From there we just turned it on,” he said.

Brady said Hermes’ 65-yard interception return came at a pivotal time with the game still in doubt.

“That was the point of the game where we really needed that,” he said. “They were driving down the field and looked like we were going to be in a 7-7 ballgame and that was a huge momentum changer.”

Ferrari threw for a touchdown, a 29-yard toss to Carson “Chuck” Riva with 1:55 left in the second quarter, and ran for a score, with a 1-yard dive to open the second half.

Landon Marquez scored on runs of 3 and 12 yards and Brennen Hirst had a 25-yard scamper as the Bruins rolled for the opening night win.

It was not the kind of night veteran coach Pat Elder had hoped for in his debut at Bureau Valley.

“It was disappointing. We didn’t play very well. I’m disappointed in myself,” he said. “I made a couple calls early that were poor and cost us. We’ll go back to work on Monday and fix the things we need to fix.

“We’ve got to find a way to be more consistent in everything we do. That’s really our problem right now, we lack consistency and it showed tonight.”

The Storm scored with two minutes remaining on a 2-yard run by Wyatt Smith, set up by a 28-yard run by Keenyn Richter.

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Members of the St. Bede football team run onto the field on Friday Aug. 29, 2025 at St. Bede Academy. The St. Bede Bruins hosted the Bureau Valley Storm for the first week of the football season. (Scott Anderson)