Bishop Gorman’s offensive miscues and penalties allowed Servite to hang around with the nation’s No. 1 team for quite a while Friday night.
But the Gaels’ defense made sure it didn’t matter.
Gorman allowed just 137 yards on the way to a 38-7 home win over the Friars (2-3) in Las Vegas.
“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. An ill-advised pass by quarterback Tate Martell set Servite up for 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 scooped up the ball and tried to make a play. 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.
While the offense struggled to find its groove, the defense shined. The Gaels held the Friars to 23 rushing yards on the night and forced a pair of turnovers.
Gorman had more penalty yards (43) in the first half than Servite had offensive yards (41).
The Gaels finally got in sync in the second hall 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 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 drive, 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.
Martell finished 14 for 27 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.
