Gilman ends Don Bosco Prep's 46-game win streak

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - As the final seconds ticked away, as something that seemed so inconceivable as briefly as a few hours ago became a reality, as one of the nation's longest marks was about to fall, Gilman (Baltimore) football coach Biff Poggi was afraid he'd fall himself.

Gilman came back to pull off a major upset in the first weeks of 2012 with a 13-6 victory over defending MaxPreps national champion Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) Saturday night in the final game of the Patriot Classic at the Naval Academy's Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

It ended Bosco's 46-game winning streak dating back to its 2008 defeat to Cincinnati's St. Xavier (17-10 loss on Sept. 13, 2008).

The victory was even more unexpected considering Gilman had lost its first two games of the season, including a humbling 35-14 game to Archbishop Moeller (Cincinnati) on national television before a narrow 20-19 loss to Our Lady of Good Counsel (Olney, Md.).

"This is the biggest win in Gilman history, when you defeat a team that's won three national championships, the last two, a team that has a 46-game winning streak, and they don't duck anyone. That's a giant win for us," Poggi said. "Honestly, what was really going through my mind those last seconds was I hoped I didn't collapse and have heart failure."

Gilman (1-2 overall) won on a 1-yard sneak by senior quarterback Shane Cockerille, who squeezed behind Connor Webb and Sheldon Johnson to slide into the end zone with 4:27 left in the game. The winning score was made possible by a 35-yard punt return by senior Matt Tilley.

The Greyhounds, buoyed by Maryland-bound Cockerille, pounded out a six-play drive and then their stingy defense clamped down on Don Bosco.

After the Ironmen's opening six-play drive, which was capped with a 1-yard touchdown run by Elijah Ibitokun-hanks' 1-yard touchdown, Don Bosco was hardly able to do anything against Gilman's defense.

"When have you ever seen Don Bosco not run the ball well? It's pretty obvious what it is, we have to be men and go back to work," Don Bosco coach Greg Toal said. "I don't look toward the future. We're on a mission to get better every day. If we can do that, then we have a chance for good things to happen. Did we plan on winning 46 games straight, no, no, it's all a process. We'll go back to work, but unfortunately, we didn't do a very good job tonight."

It was Gilman linebacker Micah Kiser who turned the course of the game in Gilman's favor when he returned an interception 70 yards for a tying touchdown with 22 seconds left in the first half.

"They had just done the same play on the previous possession and this time I made a better break on the ball and I scored," said Kiser, who's committed to Virginia and scored the first defensive touchdown of his high school career. "We're a senior-laden team and we stayed together after Bosco's first drive. That was it. We stopped them. It was a great defensive effort. We wanted to prove we're one of the best defenses in the country and I think we did. We held the national championship team to six points."

The second half was a stalemate. Niether team was able to do anything offensively.

Then Tilley's punt return late in the fourth quarter proved to be a game-changer. From there, Cockerille took over.

"It did get a little tense there," Cockerille said. "Micah's interception changed everything. But spreading them out in the first half, and throwing the ball a lot, backing them off, which is something we don't do a whole lot, that opened up the run. As the seconds ticked away, to beat these guys, it meant a lot. It was a great, great honor to be the quarterback that beat them. I can't believe it."

Good Counsel 14, St. Joseph Regional (Montvale, N.J.) 10

It wasn't looking too good. In fact, it was as bleak as it gets: forced against its own end zone and playing in a torrential downpour that would have made any Navy captain somewhat skittish. Good Counsel (2-1) was slowly seeping into its second loss of the season. The rain wasn't helping.

Still, Brendan Marshall was able to look up in the stinging drops and there was Kendall Fuller, slipping behind the St. Joseph's Regional secondary.

Marshall, Our Lady of Good Counsel's senior quarterback, lofted a perfect arc that Fuller ran under for a 94-yard touchdown reception on the final play of the third quarter. The score marked the winning difference in an entertaining Falcons' victory.

"You had to adjust to the rain and the ball got real heavy, but we came out and had to ignore that," said Marshall, a Virginia commit who completed two of three passes in the second half for 122 yards. "We had to stick with what we do best. On the Fuller touchdown, we saw their corners come up and Kendall made a double move. We run that play a couple of times and we have a few options off of it. My eyes got big and I tried to lay it out there for Kendall."

Good Counsel's comeback was a stark difference from where it seemed this game was heading. The Falcons (2-1 overall) turned the ball over on their first two possessions, leading to an early 10-0 St. Joseph's lead with 5:17 left in the first quarter on a 29-yard Mark Fossati field goal and a 3-yard scoring run by Jeff Farina.

"Hey, we came here to win a game, and you win some, you lose some," St. Joe's coach Tony Karcich said. "We played hard, we made some mistakes, and they're a good football team. That's it, we move on. We were all mentally ready when the rain came and it was as tough for them. That's no excuse. We were up 10-0. We have no excuses. This game was there to be had, and we had a chance, and we had to execute. To let them to come from the 10-yard line and a 90-yard bomb, with us nursing a three-point lead, inexcusable."

Fuller, a Virginia Tech commit, had a rough start, too. He couldn't get his footing. Both teams had problems holding the ball, and it was very frustrating.

"We had a 30-minute delay, you couldn't really see and it definitely affected both sides," Fuller said. "Offense was struggling in the first half and we made some changes. We just had to play harder, backs blocking harder. Anytime things don't go our way we're going to get frustrated. You had to deal with adversity. This was a big win for us."
Joe Santoliquito is a frequent MaxPreps contributor and Philadelphia-based writer. He may be reached at jsantoliquito@yahoo.com