Gaels stay perfect with win over Legacy
A quick glance at the scoreboard might not indicate it, but Bishop Gorman's football team had to work a little harder than expected against division foe Legacy on Friday night.
The Longhorns, who sported "No Fear Here" warmup shirts, played physical along the offensive and defensive lines for most of the night and even got 122 yards on 24 carries from senior running back Naim Geeslin.
But it wasn't enough to stop the nation's No. 1 team.
Quarterback Tate Martell threw for 230 yards and five touchdowns, all in the first half, to lead the Gaels to a 63-7 win over the host Longhorns.
"It's been tough the last couple of weeks because we got back into Vegas and the mindset changed a little bit," Gorman coach Kenny Sanchez said. "It's not so much who we are playing, but from out-of-state to in-state, we have to make sure we keep our guys focused. It has never been about the opponent, but you know there is a little lull you go through."
Biaggio Ali Walsh rushed for 211 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries and caught a 55-yard touchdown pass as the Gaels stormed out to a 49-7 lead at halftime.
Jonathan Shumaker also ran for 106 yards and a touchdown on six carries for Gorman (8-0, 3-0 Southwest).
"Those kids are great," Sanchez said. "(The yardage totals) tell me they are good running backs, but it also tells me our offensive line is pretty darn good. If we have a couple of guys getting over 100 yards rushing that means those guys up front, who don't get a lot of pub, are putting the work in, so I'm proud of those guys."
Julio Garcia II, a UNLV commit, is one member of the Gaels offensive line that continues to open up huge holes for Ali Walsh and Shumaker to run through. On Friday, he and his teammates also gave their standout gunslinger plenty of time to pick apart the Longhorns' secondary.
Garcia credits the week of practice for getting the Gaels ready.
"Monday and Tuesday, coaches had us in full pads because they wanted us ready," he said. "The last two games were not physical, but this team is pretty good. Their D-line was physical, so it will help us for next week."
After Gorman took a 35-0 lead on a TD reception from Brandon Gahagan with 7 minutes, 18 seconds left in the second quarter, Legacy's Tanoa Alapati connected with Ahmyreon Culpepper on a 57-yard touchdown pass to cut the Gaels lead to 35-7.
But the Longhorns (2-5, 1-1) would not find the end zone again.
Geeslin became just the second running back this season to rush for more than 100 yards on the Gaels. Alapati finished 3 of 19 passing for 78 yards and an interception for Legacy.
Sanchez said he used this week's practices to help his team regain its edge after blowout wins over Shadow Ridge and Durango.
With the Gaels already having their eyes on next week's battle with Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey, Sanchez said he wants his players to stay sharp for the upcoming playoffs.
"Honestly, the only way to sharpen steel is with steel," Sanchez said. "We go a lot of ones on ones in practice. On Monday and Tuesday, we went full-padded, live scrimmages — No. 1 offense versus No. 1 defense. The boys didn't really like it. We told them whether they like it or not, we are going to drag them to the finish line. We got to make sure we focus on all the little things and tighten those things up."
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