Gorman puts on show for national television audience

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 | 10:07 p.m.

The Bishop Gorman High football team showed Friday night why several consider them a favorite to win the state title.

And, on this Friday night, the fans at the school’s Fertitta Field weren’t the lone witnesses of the domination.

The Gaels scored on their first seven possessions and limited visiting Green Valley High to 97 yards in a 58-0 non-league victory that was televised nationally by CBS College Sports.

The lopsided win will surely bring attention to the program — and hopefully prep football in Southern Nevada, Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said.

“This thing isn’t just about us,” Sanchez said. “It’s good for Nevada high school football. The city of Las Vegas plays good football. It was great to have the opportunity to play on this stage.”

Gorman, a team loaded with at least eight Division I prospects, didn’t disappoint.

Senior tight end Xavier Grimble, the nation’s top-rated tight end by recruiting Web site Rivals.com, had a pair of touchdown receptions from freshman quarterback Anu Solomon.

Grimble, who is committed to USC, said he treated the televised game like any other Friday night. His main concern was Gorman continuing to make improvements.

“Our goal is to get better every week and we definitely did that,” said Grimble, who finished with three catches for 47 yards, including touchdowns of 13 and 25 yards.

Solomon finished with three touchdown passes, also connecting with Taylor Spencer for a 37-yard scoring strike midway through the first quarter. Spencer also recorded a defensive touchdown, returning an interception 24 yards for a score late in the first half.

Gorman (6-0) put on arguably its best performance of the year. While they have won every game on their schedule convincingly, parts of each victory have been overshadowed with penalties, turnovers and other mistakes.

Friday night, however, they were seemingly perfect.

“Obviously, you want to come out and jump on them early,” Sanchez said. “We were really fortunate because a lot of things worked well for us early tonight.”

Shaquille Powell had the two biggest plays for Gorman, racing 62 yards for a touchdown on his first carry for a 7-0 Gorman lead less than two minutes into the game. Powell added a 92-yard touchdown run in the second quarter and starter Victor Belen had 69 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.

Green Valley (2-3) struggled from start to finish and never ran a play inside Gorman’s 30-yard line. The lone highlight was getting the rare chance to play on national television.

“You have to love this environment,” Green Valley coach Matt Gerber said. “This is what you play football for. We just came out scared and that was obvious from the get-go.”