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StumblePrep football:
Desert Oasis puts up fight but finally bows to Bishop Gorman
Gorman running back Victor Belen helps Gaels put game away in fourth quarter
Mona Shield Payne / Special to the Sun
Bishop Gorman running back Victor Belen breaks through a tackle against Desert Oasis defensive back Thomas Whitney Thursday night at Bishop Gorman. The Gaels won 42-11.
Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 12:47 a.m.
Week 5: Desert Oasis vs Bishop Gorman
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del.icio.usPowered by running back Victor Belen's three touchdowns, Bishop Gorman eventually gets past Desert Oasis 42-11 to improve to 5-0.
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Bishop Gorman has a tendency to intimidate its opponents. With its roster full of Division-I prospects and weekly blowout victories, the Gaels usually force the other team to crumble by halftime.
That wasn’t the case against Desert Oasis Thursday night. The Diamondbacks stuck right with the Gaels for the first three quarters, until Bishop Gorman pulled away for a 42-11 victory in the final 12 minutes.
“I’ll give them credit for heart,” Bishop Gorman senior running back Victor Belen said. “They had the most heart we’ve played so far, the most heart I’ve seen in four years playing here.”
At the end of the third quarter, the Gaels led only 21-11.
But in the fourth quarter, Belen rushed for two touchdowns to put Desert Oasis away. Overall, Belen carried the ball 17 times for 152 yards and three touchdowns.
“He’s been great since game one,” Bishop Gorman coach Tony Sanchez said. “He’s a heck of a player.”
It was the Gaels’ other star running back, sophomore Shaquille Powell, who struck first. He put Bishop Gorman up 7-0 in the first quarter with a three-yard touchdown run.
Belen followed it with a 24-yard sweep for a score on the team’s next possession. The two-touchdown deficit did not deter Desert Oasis.
The Diamondbacks capitalized on the Gaels’ mistakes by recording a safety after a bad snap on a punt attempt and recovered two punts that hit Bishop Gorman players.
With 10 minutes remaining in the second half, Desert Oasis senior quarterback Brennen Stott scored on a 19-yard option run to make the score 14-8.
“They made us grind it out, and I think that’s good for our kids, because we haven’t played past the third quarter the whole season,” Sanchez said.
At halftime, Desert Oasis coach Faron Seibel challenged his players. He told them to win the game, they needed to shut Bishop Gorman out in the third quarter.
The Diamondbacks did exactly that but couldn’t supplement it with points. Stott threw two interceptions in the red zone, one to Belen and the other to Bishop Gorman senior Taylor Spencer, who also had four catches for 87 yards and a touchdown.
“We made a few mistakes there at the end that kind of cost us,” Seibel said. “But we were very proud of how we played.”
Offensively, the Diamondbacks leaned on senior Ronald Hunt. The running back had 21 carries for 57 yards and caught three passes for 55 yards.
“We underestimated them. We did,” Belen said. “They came out swinging and we didn’t play as hard as we do in practice. We came out here and got smacked in the mouth and we smacked them back. That’s all we can do.”
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How sad that the local commentary on MYLVTV last night comprised of 2 guys that were for Bishop Gorman and one who's "beautiful wife" was the cheerleading coach. They not only de-graded the Diamondbacks, especially when Gorman drove to the red zone, by saying "it's a given that BG will score". Guess you really realize the Bishop Gorman is made of money and can spend money to recruit players, of course they are going to be better than a second year school. Guess all the snobs are proud of their rich kids!
OMG...if jealousy is all you have...then keep it to yourself. You must be a disgruntled parent whose team just got spanked. It was a wonderful challenging game to watch, but comments like yours are useless.
Hey I'm not for Gorman or DO but I was really getting sick of the announcers drooling all over Gorman. Constantly brought up where the Gorman players were going to college. Even had Randall Cunningham on to talk about his son choosing Gorman or Silverado. How do you spell recruit? Also brought up how great the baseball team is several times. I thought this was a football game? In some fairness they had very kind words for DO and how they fought hard. I would say 75% Gorman 25% DO.
"Sincity 702"-- DO did not get spanked. If you were at the game or watched the game, it was a great game until the 4th QTR. DO had just some mistakes as well that hurt at the end. However, the DO community is VERY PROUD of our team and the way they played. I am very impressed by the comment from Belen about DO having the most HEART he has seen in 4 years. Gorman has a legit team, noone is taking that away. They are big and strong....but give some credit where it's due as well. Desert Oasis came out fighting and the score was not any reflection of what a game it was! GOOOOOOO DBACKS! BTW-- beautiful facility Gorman has.....
Same old Gorman. Sloppy executions and poor discipline, especially on special teams in this game. This is the reason why there was 24 years between the last two state titles-with far fewer teams than there are now. If they weren't in the weakest of the 4 divisions in the valley, or if there was more strength of schedule re-scheduling each year, they might even have a hard time making the playoffs-definitely the case if they decided to take 2 teams instead of the insane 4 teams they take now from each division. They installed a pro-style offense for one reason only this year-more recruits that are interested in putting up big numbers for Div I scholarships. I'm a former Gorman parent and wish them well but Gorman will always be a victim of its own success. Coach seems like a nice guy though.
Dbackmom---in fairness it was an awesome game to watch. DO is legit and think that they will go far. But gorman players has respect and gives respect when it's due. My comment was for niagara because we are sick and tired that just because it's gorman people think that they favor us. But believe me there are alot of gorman haters out there...for what reason, don't know. Like I said pure jealousy of kids that work very hard to get where they at. It doesn't matter if some parents are that rich enough to put their child in the best of school. I would say that I'm not one of them. Spending hard earned money to put my child in a school where I know he will benefit from! All in all, it was a great game...good job DO football, thanks for playing with heart!
Go Gaels