Bishop Gorman football defeats Centennial behind Maika Eugenio

It’s been 20 years since Bishop Gorman’s football team has opened its season against a local opponent. The Gaels lost their 2005 season opener to Las Vegas High by 15 points.

Oh, how things have changed since then.

Gorman, ranked No. 1 in the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s 5A rankings, got two pick-sixes on defense and four passing TDs from Maika Eugenio in the first half, which propelled the Gaels to a 52-0 road win at No. 7 Centennial to open Class 5A Desert League play.

“First game, a lot of jitters, a lot of pieces that you got to get going, and then you finally got it figured out and we started going there at the end,” Gorman coach Brent Browner said. “We played a lot of guys, a lot of guys we got to see that were young and hadn’t played a lot and we got them in a game. I really like where we’re at.”

Eugenio, a Hawaii commit, only played the first half and completed 8 of 9 passes for 234 yards with four touchdowns for Gorman, ranked No. 2 nationally by USA Today and No. 3 by MaxPreps.

“He’s just come off of what he did last year,” Browner said of Eugenio. “The first drive, it’s the first drive, but you see him lock in and make some great passes. Receiving corps did a good job, too. O-line did a good job, it’s a brand new O-line that’s going to be pretty good.”

Centennial is coming off winning back-to-back state titles in 4A (2023) and 5A Division III (2024). Gorman has won the last four state titles in the top classification.

“A lot of those guys (on our defense) played for the national championship (in 2023) and played in every big game, so we expect a lot of them and we saw that today,” Browner said. “They did a good job shutting that team down, they have a good receiver and good quarterback. (Centennial coach) DJ (Campbell) does a good job with his schemes, so it’s a good team, a state championship team that we just beat.”

Gorman (1-0, 1-0 5A Desert League) held Centennial (0-1, 0-1) to zero net yards of offense in the first half. It wasn’t a perfect half, as the Gaels led 45-0 at the break. They were flagged six times in the first half.

“It feels good to see where we’re at and see what we got to do and we got to fix, but it’s a great way to prepare for the out-of-state games we got coming up,” Eugenio said.

If there was another hiccup for Gorman, it came on its first offensive drive when on fourth-and-goal at the Centennial 1 Terrence Grant Jr. was stuffed in the backfield by Centennial’s Robert Smith.

Any chance of Centennial making it a game quickly went away as on the first play of Centennial’s next drive, the Gaels swarmed Luke Lawerence in the end zone for a safety.

That opened the floodgates as Eugenio connected with future Hawaii teammate Isaiah Nickels on touchdown passes of 10 and 15 yards to give Gorman a 16-0 lead late in the first quarter.

Gorman led 23-0 after the first quarter, when, after Eugeio’s second passing score to Nickels, Pesi Silva picked off Centennial quarterback Oliver Bergstrom and returned the ball for a touchdown.

The Gaels lead grew when Eugenio found Zyren Micah Menor on a screen pass and the sophomore ran 56 yards for a score. The duo connected again, this time on a 60-yard TD pass to extend the Gaels’ lead to 38-0 following a 2-point conversion to trigger the running clock.

“He stepped up. It’s hard to guard him,” Eugenio said of Menor. “He’s fast, he’s physical, he’s big; his route running is good, too. He made a couple big plays and it was really good for us.”

Gorman got one more score before the break when Tausa’afia Taufa-Langi picked off Bergstorm and raced 18 yards for a touchdown. The Gaels had four sacks and seven tackles for loss in the first half.

Braylon Rayford added a 56-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter for Gorman’s final score.

Menor finished with three catches for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Taufa-Langi added a tackle for loss and forced a fumble.

Prince Williams, an Arizona commit, recorded a sack and a tackle for loss for Gorman, and Tamatoa Gaoteote had two tackles for loss.

“Our coaches did a great job, we’ve been grinding since January,” Browner said. “They did a great job, it’s a new group. Usually, the first game, it’s zero room for error. We got into that groove when we needed to.”

Bergstorm completed 9 of 21 passes for 29 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked four times. Centennial was held to minus-29 rushing yards in the first half.

Gorman begins its out-of-state schedule next week when the Gaels travel to face Kahuku (Hawaii) on Saturday, and Centennial plays at Desert Hills (Utah) next Friday.

Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.