Sollenberger Classic: No. 10 Bishop Gorman, Shaquille Powell run past Chaparral

GLENDALE, Ariz. - When all else fails, go to your bread-and-butter. Or in the case of Bishop Gorman's (Las Vegas) football team go left behind the behemoth duo of tackle Ronnie Stanley and guard Ron Scoggins and give Shaquille Powell the ball.

Then get out of the way.

Hungry for production following a frustrating first half, the 10th-ranked team in the country got a remarkable five second-half rushing touchdowns from Powell, who rushed 30 times for 300 yards and scored six touchdowns overall in a 42-22 victory over No. 24 Chaparral (Scottsdale, Ariz.) in the sixth annual Sollenberger Classic at the University of Phoenix Stadium on Saturday.

Powell, an Emmit Smith-like 5-foot-10, 205-pound senior running back, scored three of his touchdowns in the third quarter when the Gaels exerted their will upon the smaller and worn-down Firebirds, who had an 18-game win streak snapped.

"We really weren't concerned at halftime," Powell said of his team's 14-7 deficit. "We've been in deep water before. We told ourselves that we had a bad half. That we needed to step it up. Let's just go out and score and then stop them. Stop and score, stop and score. That's just what we did."

In a battle of defending state champions, Gorman outgained Chaparral 213-2 in the third quarter, including 164 rushing by Powell, who scored on runs of 45, 73 and 5 yards in the 12-minute span. The Gaels ran just two plays - student body left - most of the third quarter and the Firebirds had no answer.

Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said that they ran those two plays at least 20 times in the second half. It helped to erase a 14-7 halftime deficit.

"We wanted to run to our bench, our sideline, to our coaches and keep them away from their sideline so they couldn't get their coaches to fix things," Sanchez said. "We felt we had some match-up advantages and we weren't going to go away from it until they stopped us. We pretty much just stopped being football coaches and let the kids decide things."

And with the massive brawn of Stanley (6-6, 290) and Scoggins (6-3, 300) and talents of Powell, all BCS Division I talents, the young Firebirds were pretty much deemed powerless.

Besides his third-quarter onslaught, Powell added a 30-yard TD reception in the first quarter and a 1-yard scoring plunge with 4:40 left and a 36-yard jaunt with 49 seconds to play to seal it.

"When something works, then you keep running it," Powell said. "And they weren't stopping it. Our blocking was great. Our quarterback (Jarrett Solomon) was even blocking."

He also contributed an interception against Texas-bound quarterback Connor Brewer with 4:12 left to seal his own personal masterpiece. The yardage and total were career single-game highs which is saying something. He came into the game with 49 career touchdowns and more than 2,600 yards.

"Shaq Powell is just a great football player and he plays like that every week," Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said when asked if this was Powell's greatest game. "He's had many, many great games for us and if we gave him as many chances as we did tonight, he'd probably put up those kind of numbers every game."

Asked if even fathomed putting up such numbers against the defending Arizona state 5A champion, Powell said. "If I did, it was a dream. I mean is it for real? I wasn't thinking I'd get that many chances."

Gorman, which hosts second-ranked Armwood (Fla.) on Friday, scored the final 28 points, all in the second half against a smaller Chaparral team that never got the nation's No. 25 recruit Davonte Neal in the flow.

Neal, a speedy 5-10, 178-yard receiver who scored for 29 touchdowns, had just five touches by the time Gorman took a three touchdown lead. Neal finally got into the act with an 82-yard touchdown catch and run and two-point conversion with 2:12 left, but it was too little, too late.

"First off, we need to do a better job of getting Davonte the ball," Chaparral coach Charlie Ragle said. "Shame on us for not. If we do get him the ball, all other things take care of themselves."

It didn't help that the Firebirds lost leading rusher Lucas Petrullo in the first half with a foot injury - he had just three carries for 13 yards - or that highly-touted Division I defensive end and transfer Jarvis Lewis didn't play under allegations that he was recruited.

Lewis would have definitely helped against Gorman's large and dominating offensive line.

Ragle made no excuses. 

"Listen, we tip our cap to our opponent when we get beat," Ragle said. "They did an outstanding job. They're a good football team and Tony does an outstanding job with them. But I said beforehand that we wouldn't be intimidated and we weren't. But I also told our guys that it's a 48-minute contest and we didn't execute. We could throw against that team and we didn't. It was frustrating.

"We're going to be a very good football team. But this is going to happen when you have a young defense. There's lots to build off but obviously I wasn't pleased with the second half." 
 
It took Gorman just three plays to drive 71 yards and take a 7-0 lead on a beautiful 30-yard pass from Jarrett Solomon to a wide open Powell who streaked down the middle of the field.

It was a beautifully-designed play following a 34-yard completion from Solomon to tight end Zach Hutchins on first down. That, however, was as good as it got in the first half for the Gaels, who went scoreless the final 22 minutes.

Meanwhile, after a shaky start, Brewer and the Firebirds got it going with two beautiful, methodical drives - one of 76 yards and the other 84 capped by touchdown passes by Brewer.

Brewer rolled right on his first one and found tight end Cody Ippolito on a 1-yard toss and the second a tight 29-yard spiral to Zach Skeen over the middle, giving Chaparral a 14-7 lead with 2:12 left in the half.

Gorman appeared to tie the score on a 61-yard bomb from Solomon to fleet Ryan Smith, but the TD was nullified on a personal foul called on the Gaels' offensive line. The play typified a frustrating first half for Gorman, which seemed to go away from its game plan to pound the ball inside.

The Gaels, who returned 10 starters on offense and five on defense from their 13-2 team last year that finished No. 25 in the state, went back to their bread-and-butter in the second half and it led to the victory.

"These guys have been down before so no one panicked (at halftime)," Sanchez said. "We didn't have a lot of offensive snaps the first half. We got things rolling and we have to keeping rolling with Armwood coming up on Friday."

Bishop Gorman 42, Chaparral 22

Bishop Gorman   7  0  21  14  -  42
Chaparral            7  7    0    8  -  22

First quarter
BG - Shaquille Powell 30 pass from Jarrett Solomon (Kline Fielden kick), 10:01
C - Cody Ippolito 1 pass from Connor Brewer (Dylan Audsely kick), 0:25

Second quarter
C - Zach Skeen 29 pass from Brewer (Audsely kick), 2:12

Third quarter
BG - Powell 45 run (Fielden kick), 7:39
BG - Powell 7 run (Fielden kick), 6:01
BG - Powell 5 run (Fielden kick), 3:59

Fourth quarter
BG - Powell 1 run (Fielden kick), 4:40
C - Davonte Neal 82 pass from Brewer (Neal pass from Audsely), 2:12
BG - Powell 36 run (Fielden kick), 0:49

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
BG - Powell 30-300, Nathan Starks 5-31, Solomon 6-16, Mark Phillip 1-11, Dean Roberts 1-5, Justin Sweet 1-4, Fertitta Lorenz 1-1. Totals 45-368. C - Zach Skeen 8-50, Malcolm 6-25, Lucas Petrulio 3-13,Davonte Neal 2-10, Team 1-(-1), Brewer 3-(-1). Totals 23-96.

PASSING
BG - Solomon 8-16-1-114. C - Brewer 11-26-1-198.

RECEIVING
BG - Powell 3-34, Hutchins 2-37, Jamir Tillman 2-23, Tajon Allen 1-20. C - Neal 3-83, Jake Roh 3-38, Zac Buzzard 2-39, Skeen 1-29, Trevor Wood 1-8, Ippolito 1-1.

TACKLES
BG - Jake Smirk 4.5, Ben Guida 4.5, Nathan Starks 4. C - Ippolito 8, Patrick Mulrow 7.5, Ikaia Nawahine 7.5. 

Moapa Valley 28, Show Low (Ariz.) 26

Once again, the team concept outdid an individual onslaught.

Moapa Valley, a scrappy, gritty squad from tiny Overton Nev. - overcame a slow start and the behemoth effort of Slow Low senior and BYU-bound Josh Weeks - to record a victory over Show Low (Ariz.) in the opening game Saturday afternoon.

In front of perhaps 1,000 fans at pristine University of Phoenix Stadium - site of the Phoenix Cardinals and 2008 Super Bowl - the 2010 Nevada 3A runner-ups scored three unanswered touchdowns starting late in the second quarter capped by a 32-yard TD jaunt by Sean Mcconnell with 3:46 left to go up 28-20.

Completions of 19 and 20 yards to Weeks (244 total yards, three touchdowns) set up a 5-yard TD pass from Zach Winn to Brian Johnson with 1:07 left.

But Winn's perfectly-placed pass on the ensuing two-point conversion went through the hands of Cody Tenney and after Moapa Valley's Daniel Chapman recovered an outside clock, the winners ran out the clock.

It was the first win for Nevada in four tries in the Sollenberger Classic.

"We don't have one single weapon on this team, but a bunch of kids who fight and claw and scratch," Moapa Valley coach Brent Lewis said. "This was a total team effort."

On the other side, the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Weeks was winning this thing all by himself, scoring on runs of 16 and 35 yards and hauling in a 44-yard TD strike from Winn.

That gave Show Low, the defending state 3A champion, a 20-7 lead with seven minutes left in the half.

But Kasen Hughes scored on a 2-yard run just before halftime and a pretty 10-yard toss from Dakota Watters to Jake Rebman with 1:28 left in the third gave Moapa Valley's its first lead, 21-20.

After the win, Moapa Valley celebrated like it had won a state title.

"It's right up there," Lewis said when asked if this was close to winning a state crown. "It's special because it's here, because we fought hard to come back and because not many people gave us much of a chance."

Though Weeks got his yards, he was kept out of the end zone the final 31 minutes.

"We made sure we bumped him at the line," Lewis said. "I think that made a difference."

Moapa Valley 28, Show Low 26

Moapa Valley   7  7  7  7  -  28
Show Low       13 7  0  6  -  26

FIRST QUARTER
S - Weeks 18 run (Zach Winn kick), 9:05
S - Weeks 44 pass from Winn (pass failed), 5:07
M - Sean McConnell 3 run (Dylan Mortensen kick), 1:26

SECOND QUARTER
S - Weeks 35 run (Winn kick), 7:00
M - Hughes 2 run (Mortensen kick), 0:52

THIRD QUARTER
M - Rebman 10 pass from Watters (Mortensen kick), 1:28

FOURTH QUARTER
M - McConnell 32 run (Mortensen kick), 3:46
S - B. Johnson 5 pass from Winn (pass failed), 1:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING
MV - Mortensen 18 81, McConnell 10-64, Hughes 8 31, Gordan 8-24. Totals 49-194. Show Low - Weeks 9-105, Tenney 4-24, Winn 8-19, MacLeod 4-17. Totals 35-183.

PASSING
MV - Watters 7-11-0-125. SL - Winn 13-32-0-161.

RECEIVING
MV - Rebman 3-32, Terril 2-41, Mortensen 1-39, Hughes 1-13. SL - Weeks 10-139, Johnson 2-16, MacLeod 1-6.

TACKLES
MV - Hughes 7, McConnell 6, Prisbey 5.5. SL - Johnson 12, Jackson 10.5, MacDonald 6.5.