Defense propels nationally No. 1-ranked Gorman past Servite (Calif.)

Bishop Gorman's offensive miscues and penalties allowed Servite (Calif.) to hang around with the nation's No. 1 team for quite a while on Friday night.

But the Gaels' defense made sure it didn't matter.

Gorman allowed just 137 yards of offense on the way to a 38-7 home win over the Friars.

"Hat's off to those guys," Gorman coach Kenny Sanchez said of his defense. "If it wasn't for those guys, we would have been in an even bigger hole. Our defense really helped our offense kind of get their groove."

Gorman (5-0) moved the ball well at times in the first half, but three drives stalled, and the Gaels missed a pair of field goals and managed just 10 points.

And an ill-advised pass by quarterback Tate Martell set Servite up with its only scoring drive of the night.

With Gorman, ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today, leading 10-0, the snap went over Martell's head and into Gorman's end zone. Martell raced back and scooped up the ball, then rolled to his left and tried to make a play.

That was a mistake, as he fired a pass right at Friars linebacker Connor Airey, who snagged the ball at the Gorman 1-yard line.

Even then, Gorman's defense made things difficult, as it took Servite three plays to get that yard, with Aaron Simpson scoring on a 2-yard bootleg run with 4:40 to go in the half to cut the lead to 10-7.

"The worst thing you can do as a football team is give 16-, 17-, and 18-year-old kids life and let them feel like they're in it, and that's what we did," Sanchez said. "We struggled offensively, and they were hanging right in there and they go into halftime going, 'We can win this football game.' "

While the offense struggled to find its groove, the defense shined. The Gaels held the Friars (2-3) to 23 rushing yards on the night and forced a pair of turnovers.

"We just settled in, and stayed focused as a defense," said Gorman defensive lineman Haskell Garrett, who had a pair of sacks. "We were doing our job the whole game. And we just let the offense do their thing."

Gorman had more penalty yards (43) in the first half than Servite had offensive yards (41).

But the Gaels finally overcame the penalties with a huge play on third-and-long on their first drive of the third quarter.

After two penalties made it third-and-27 from the Servite 32, Martell hit sophomore Brendan Radley-Hiles on a post route. He hauled in the pass near the 10, juked a defender and went in for the score to give Gorman a 17-7 lead and some breathing room.

From there, Gorman was able to get back to its ground game, with Jonathan Shumaker scoring on an 8-yard run with 25 seconds to go in the third quarter to make it 24-7.

After the Gaels forced a fumble on the first play of the ensuing possession, Biaggio Ali Walsh capped a 22-yard drive with a 3-yard TD run, his second of the game, to make it 31-7 with 10:43 to play.

Ali Walsh finished with 202 yards on 30 carries, including a 10-yard TD run in the second quarter.

He had 100 yards on his first five carries, but even he slowed down after that, finishing the first half with 20 carries for 157 yards.

"He's a great football player," Sanchez said. "He's been playing great for five weeks now. He's been doing a great job, and even better is the (offensive) line. The line has been doing a great job."

Troy Wilewski capped the scoring for Gorman with a 12-yard TD run with 6:05 to play.

Martell finished 14-for-27 passing for 249 yards, and Brandon Gahagan had six catches for 106 yards.

But the defense was the story, as the Gaels held Servite in check all night. Forty-six of the Friars' yards came on two pass plays in the final 30 seconds.

"We just played Gael defense," Garrett said. "We ran to the ball, used our strength and our ability and played as a team."

Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at 702-380-4587 or dseiters@reviewjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DamonSeiters