BG overcomes slow start
Trending
By Jim Hammett
For the Mirror
JOHNSTOWN -- The Bishop Guilfoyle Marauders had a bit of a slow start in a diocesan rival McCort-Carroll on Friday night at Sargent's Stadium at the Point in Johnstown, but eventually the Marauders found some life to dispatch the Crimson Crushers 30-12 to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Bishop Guilfoyle fell behind 12-0 in the first half. McCort-Carroll stunned the visitors with a 56-yard touchdown on a fake punt, then later added to its lead with an 18-yard touchdown by Jonathan Delia. From there, however, the Marauders seized control of the game.
Hamilton Gates opened the scoring for BG with a spectacular leaping grab near the end of the first half, his first of three touchdowns on the night. The Marauders then forced a fumble on the very next McCort-Carroll snap and scored on another Gates touchdown to take the lead.
The Marauders never looked back after the break. The BG defense generated two interceptions and outscored McCort-Carroll 18-0 in the second half.
Play of the game: Gates came down with a pretty impressive grab in the first half for a 37-yard touchdown to open the scoring for BG. Justin Wheeler had this to say about his senior playmaker. "This is two weeks in a row he's made those plays to give us a little spark, a little bump, and then late in the game he ices it with a touchdown. He's just an unbelievable player."
Player of the game: BG senior quarterback Chase Kissell finished the day 17-of-22 for 201 passing yards and two touchdowns. Kissell went a perfect 10-for-10 passing in the second half, and also chipped in 52 rushing yards.
Unsung heroes: The Bishop Guilfoyle defense. Following McCort-Carroll's stunning 12-0 lead to open the game, the Marauders really clamped down and generated three turnovers, had one fourth down stop, and forced the Crimson Crushers to punt twice on their remaining possessions.
Most vital statistic: Bishop Guilfoyle has now won 13 games in a row over Bishop McCort. The last time McCort won a game in this series was back in 2012.
Wheeler: "We did have a slow start. We did have a big win last week to kickoff the season. But I thought Hamilton (Gates) made a play, Braden (Reilly) made a play, Chase (Kissell) made a big run and then our defense really kind of sparked us. They kept us in the game and then they sparked us with a turnover late to get us that score to get us the lead and after that, we didn't look back."
McCort-Carroll coach Tom Smith: "It was a great environment here. Hats off to the coaches and players at Bishop Guilfoyle. They're a very good football program and we understand that. For us to come in here and take steps forward towards getting better. If we can compete with the No. 1 team in the state in single-A, that's a big step for our football program. We have a lot of respect for Bishop Guilfoyle.''
Gates: "We started off slow. We were miscommunicating, but at the end we really just pulled it together and after halftime we got a few stops at the beginning, but we really just all came together as a team and just played our own defense and played Marauder football.''
Notable: Friday's game was pushed back an hour to 8:00 p.m. due to the Donald Trump rally held at nearby 1st Summit Arena in downtown Johnstown.
Records: Bishop Guilfoyle 2-0; Bishop McCort 1-1
Next week: Bishop Guilfoyle hosts Bellefonte. Bishop McCort takes on Chestnut Ridge
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Bishop Guilfoyle 0 13 10 7 -- 7
Bishop McCort 0 12 0 0 -- 12
Second Quarter
BM -- Page 56 pass from Farabaugh (kick failed), 11:48.
BM -- Delia 18 run (run failed), 6:02.
BG -- Gates 37 pass from C. Kissell (kick failed), 3:50
BG -- Gates 7 run (Boland kick), 1:33
Third Quarter
BG -- Boland 27 field goal, 7:08.
BG -- Nick McCloskey 20 pass from C. Kissell (Boland kick), 4:54
Fourth Quarter
BG -- Gates 1 run (Boland kick), 2:52
TEAM STATISTICS BG BM
First downs 13 4
Total yards 319 181
Rushes-yards 31-118 23-66
Yards passing 201 115
Passing (comp.-att.-int.) 17-22-0 4-12-2
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 9-85 4-45
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Bishop Guilfoyle, Gates 11-64, C. Kissell 15-52, Okonak 1-8, Consiglio 1-0, Reilly 1-1, Wheeler 1-1 J.Kissell 1-(-4), Gioiosa 1 for (-4). Bishop McCort, Delia 12-39, Gallucci 8-16, Spontak 3-11.
PASSING -- Bishop Guilfoyle, Kissell 17-22-0-201. Bishop McCort, Gallucci 3-11-2-59, Farabaugh 1-1-0-56.
RECEIVING -- Bishop Guilfoyle, Reilly 6-69, Gates 3-50, J.Kissell 3-26, McCloskey 3-26, Georgiana 1-9, Consiglio 1-(-1). Bishop McCort, Farabaugh 2-52, Page 1-56, Spontak 1-7.