The #1 ranked Bishop Garrigan football team is headed to the 8-player state semifinals at the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls for the third season in a row after pulling away from the #8 ranked Don Bosco Dons in the second half of a 51-21 win on Thursday at Conway Field.
After a tightly contested first half ended with Bishop Garrigan leading 20-14, the Golden Bears received the football to start the third quarter ready to make a physical statement. It began with back to back runs of 16 and 19 yards by senior Ethan Marso to move the ball into Dons territory. With some momentum behind them, Bishop Garrigan continued the ground and pound attack, running the ball seven more times, capping off the nine play drive with a quarterback sneak by senior Tate Foertsch to punch the ball in from the one yard line, with the two point conversion after giving Bishop Garrigan a 28-14 lead, the first two-score lead of the night for either team.
On the ensuing Don Bosco possession, the Dons appeared ready to answer, gradually marching the ball inside the red zone to the 18 yard line. However, on a second down and nine, quarterback Tucker Youngblut didn’t see Bishop Garrigan linebacker Madder Miller dropping into coverage, as Miller intercepted a pass intended for Kaiser Bovy to throw cold water on the Don Bosco drive.
The interception proved to be a crushing blow to the Dons, who allowed a 21 yard rush by Marso on the first play of the next Bishop Garrigan drive. That run set the stage for another nine play march, ending in a three yard score by Marso and a Marso two point conversion to make the score 36-14 with under a minute left to play in the third quarter.
The punishing second half display of Bishop Garrigan came on the heels of a back and forth first half. After a punt on the first drive of the game by Don Bosco, Foertsch kept the ball on an option play with Marso, taking it around the left end for a 64 yard touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, giving the Golden Bears a 6-0 lead after the PAT was blocked.
The Dons came back with a strong response, taking the ball 69 yards down the field on 11 plays, with Youngblut punching the ball in from one yard out, with the PAT giving the Dons a 7-6 lead with 4:48 left in the opening quarter, the first time all season Bishop Garrigan had trailed. A field-flipping, 24 yard reception by Ty Christensen to get Don Bosco out of a first and long situation highlighted the drive.
Undeterred, Bishop Garrigan answered with a lengthy drive of their own, with Marso’s one yard touchdown restoring the Bishop Garrigan lead 14-7, after Foertsch ran it in on the two point try. The scoring drive was nearly halted on the first play, as Marso fumbled the football, but dove in between two white jerseys to recover his own fumble and continue the drive, which eventually covered 65 yards on 14 plays.
Don Bosco methodically tied the game, moving into Bishop Garrigan territory and turning a fourth and two into a 12 yard touchdown pass from Youngblut to Vincent Pranger, tying the game at 14 with 4:42 to go until the half, with the drive eating up over six minutes off the clock.
Bishop Garrigan quickly got down the field on their next possession, ignited by a 38 yard pass from Foertsch to Michael Joyce, as Foertsch capped off the drive with a nine yard scoring rush to bring the score to 20-14 in favor of the Golden Bears at halftime.
The Bishop Garrigan offense finished the night without punting, as the only non-scoring drives involved taking a knee at the end of each half of football. The rushing attack tallied 353 yards on 52 carries for a 6.8 yard average. Marso contributed 24 rushes for 145 yards and 2 scores, Foertsch added 22 carries for 184 yards and 3 touchdowns, while CJ McGregor toted the rock six times for 24 yards and one trip to the end zone. Foertsch completed all three of his pass attempts for 40 yards and a one late touchdown pass to Weston Rosenmeyer to put the game away.
The top ranked Golden Bears will take on the #5 Audubon Wheelers at the UNI-Dome at 10am on Wednesday, as Audubon knocked off #4 Iowa Valley 26-19 on Thursday night. The other 8-man quarterfinal games featured #2 Woodbine rolling to a 50-12 win over #9 Freemont Mills, and #3 Gladbrook-Reinbeck taking care of #6 Edgewood-Colesburg 54-18.
