Gaels romp past Bengals for Southwest crown

With a win and some help on Thursday night, Bonanza had an outside chance to win the Southwest League title.

Instead, second-ranked Bishop Gorman rumbled to a 44-7 road victory, showing the Bengals why it now has won the league title three of the last four seasons.

After Bonanza (6-4, 5-2) took a 7-6 lead on the first play of the second quarter, the Gaels reached the end zone on four straight possessions to take control of the game at the half.

“It was a wake-up call,” Gorman running back Kawika Antolin said of the Bengals’ touchdown. “Our job is to make sure they don’t score. We’re the kind of team that doesn’t like the other team to score at all. When they did, I got really mad.”

Antolin channeled that emotion in the right direction. He scored three touchdowns on his next five carries as Bishop Gorman (10-1, 7-0) surged ahead.

Gorman’s defense was just as responsible for the victory. The Gaels allowed just 85 rushing yards, and 179 total yards, to Bonanza.
Bengals standout running back Antonio Beals, the third leading rusher in the area, was held to 24 yards on 15 carries.

“We have an awfully good defense. It’s tough for a lot of teams to move the ball against us, though they did move it well at times tonight,” coach Bob Altshuler said, adding the key to the unit’s success was “just playing as a team, running to the ball and tackling. Good fundamentals.”

Though expectations at the school always are set a bit higher, the win did give the Gaels a division championship.

“It’s just another step along the road,” Gorman quarterback Joe Huber said. “We’ve got Legacy next week (in the playoffs).
“We’ll just take it one step at a time.”

Huber ran for a score and set up another for Antolin.

With less than 30 seconds to play in the first half and the ball at the Bengals 18-yard line, Huber rolled out right and then began to come back left when he was hit and started to go down.

As he went to the ground, Huber spotted Antolin behind him and somehow managed to pitch him the ball. From there, the running back ran the ball across the field and eventually went in for a score.

“I stopped for a minute, and I saw him going down. He yelled my name as he pitched it, and then once it hit my hands, I thought I should start running,” said Antolin, who finished with 70 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries.

Sterling Sprau threw for 94 yards and a score for the Bengals but was intercepted twice. Delano Helmuth had four catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.

As it turned out, Bonanza could not have won the division anyway. The Bengals needed a win and a Spring Valley loss to pull off the feat, but the Grizzlies soundly defeated Durango, 58-7.

Bonanza will play Cheyenne in the first round of the playoffs.