Late drives push De La Salle past Gorman
De La Salle (Calif.) used a pair of clock-consuming drives in the fourth quarter to defeat visiting Bishop Gorman 28-14 on Saturday night.
With the game tied at 14, the Spartans turned to the ground game, driving 80 yards on 13 plays, capped by a 4-yard TD pass from Bart Houston to Anthony Williams with 6:17 to play.
De La Salle, ranked ninth in the nation by USA Today, ran the ball 11 times on the drive, including eight carries for 50 yards by Lucas Dunne.
After a Gorman punt, the Spartans drove 62 yards on eight plays, capped by a 2-yard run by Houston with 1:30 to play that made it 28-14.
With the game tied at 14 early in the fourth quarter, Gorman’s Collin Ditsworth attempted a 52-yard field goal attempt. The kick was short, and Gorman only ran three offensive plays the rest of the game.
Dunne rushed for 132 yards, including 112 in the second half.
Gorman led 14-7 at the half and Shaquille Powell came up with a leaping interception at the Gaels 9 midway through the third quarter.
But Powell, who finished with 114 yards on 21 carries, fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive, setting up a 19-yard TD run by Dunne that tied the game at 14 with 5:26 to go in the third quarter.
De La Salle returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the first half belonged to Gorman, which outgained De La Salle, 173-63.
Antoine Pickett returned the opening kick 90 yards for a Spartan touchdown to take short-lived 7-0 lead 15 seconds into the game.
Powell rushed for a pair of first-half touchdowns for Gorman. The junior running back scored on a 2-yard run with 1:03 to go in the first quarter to cap an 82-yard drive. The key play on the drive was a 73-yard pass from Jarrett Solomon to Evan Zeger.
Powell then broke several tackles on a 17-yard TD run with 10:27 to go in the half to give the Gaels the lead.
The Spartans drove to the Gorman 13 late in the half, but a holding penalty inside the 10 stalled the progress, and Jalen Grimble sacked Bart Houston for a 9-yard loss, forcing a 42-yard field goal attempt, which was no good.
