Last week’s canceled football game forced Bishop Diego High to cram its Senior Night and Homecoming into one big celebration on Saturday at La Playa Stadium.
The Cardinals also could have started celebrating a victory during the halftime festivities.
They scored on all five of their possessions during the first half and continued on to a 49-7 victory over Newbury Park in their Camino League opener.
“This was our last home game, so we wound up combining both (celebrations),” Bishop coach Tom Crawford said. “We did the seniors beforehand and then picked up with the homecoming presentation during halftime.
“But it’s always a lot easier to do those things when you’re winning on the scoreboard.”
Qu’ran Gossett had a big first half, rushing for 135 yards and two touchdowns, and Michael Luckhurst had a perfect passing night as Bishop (6-1) bounced back from the 21-14 defeat it suffered at St. Bonaventure two weeks ago.
“We feel like we improved this week after learning some things,” Crawford said. “We’ve got to do the same thing for the balance of the season.”
Newbury Park (2-5) actually started strong, gaining 116 yards before Bishop could even run a play.
The Cardinals scored first, however, when Johnny Alvarado broke several tackles right in front of the Bishop sideline while returning the Panthers’ first punt for an 82-yard touchdown.
“It was one of those refuse-to-be-denied plays because there were probably at least four times that I felt he was probably wrapped up, either tackled or knocked out of bounds, and he made just some really nice moves,” Crawford said. “All of the sudden, the next thing you know, he’s springing out of the piles.
“That was a spark for us because I think they’d taken about eight minutes off the clock. To be able to quickly score like that was one of those things where everyone can relax.”
The pass-happy Panthers responded with an 80-yard scoring drive, getting all its yardage on three completions. Quarterback Travis Endicott connected with freshman Shane Rosenthal on a hook-and-go pattern for the game-tying, 30-yard touchdown.
“On tape, and we’d seen their quarterback during the spring, and I was really impressed with him, and again tonight,” Crawford said. “He’s so accurate, and his release is so quick, and he makes decisions with conviction, and is just a smart, smart player.
“Their receiving corps is pretty good and spatially aware. It wasn’t a surprise to us to see the quality of their passing game. But I think our defense actually did a very nice job of adjusting after those first drives.”
Bishop answered with its own 80-yard TD march, gaining all its yards on the ground. The biggest play came when Gossett took a pitchout around left end and then cut across the grain for a 58-yard gain to the Newbury Park 4-yard line. Gossett ran it over on the next play to give the Cardinals a 14-7 lead at the end of the first period.
Gossett, who’s had to shoulder much of Bishop’s running game with four-year starter Marcus Chan out with an injury, got all of his 135 rushing yards on 10 carries during the first half.
“Clearly, with Marcus out, we knew we had to get Qu’ran going,” Crawford said. “He ran very, very hard, and again shows his power as a runner. That was also a real positive to get the running game back on track.
“We struggled with that against Bonaventure to a degree, so to get back on track was a real goal for the evening.”
Bishop stayed on the ground for seven of its eight plays on a 66-yard TD drive to start the second quarter. The one pass was a 26-yard strike from Luckhurst to Alvarado to the Panthers’ 33. Gossett finished the drive with another touchdown run, pushing into the end zone from the 3-yard line.
The Cardinals added two more scores in the final four minutes of the first half — the first on a six-yard pass from Luckhurst to Alvarado, and the second on a 19-yard run by Isaac Burquez — to enter halftime with a 35-7 lead.
Luckhurst added a nine-yard TD pass to Tyler Williams midway through the third period. He finished with a 7-for-7 passing night, gaining 126 yards.
“The nice thing for me was that his reads were real right-on,” Crawford said. “There were a couple of times when he saw the open man right away and he pulled the trigger. He completed a couple downfield.
“He had a really, really good game. I thought he played within himself all night and played with confidence. That dimension really helps us to be able to move the ball, especially when teams are trying to gang up on the run.”
The last TD catch was the first for Williams, a 6-foot-3 senior basketball star who asked to come out for the team after Week Two.
“He asked if it was too late,” Crawford said. “We told him, ‘No, we’d love to have you … recognizing that you’ve got a long road to catch up.’
“But he’s been diligent and getting more and more comfortable every single practice. He’s a heck of a basketball player and he’s got great height, and he used it on that play. It was a real nice throw by Luckhurst.
“You could see the excitement of our kids along the sideline when he made that catch. He’s a real welcomed addition.”
Luckhurst’s replacement, junior A.J. Vele, scored Bishop’s final TD with a tackle-breaking, 46-yard run on a quarterback keeper.
“He’s a really fine athlete,” Crawford said. “He’s kind of an unsung hero because with Marcus being out, we have A.J. stepping in to do all of the short-snapping and long-snapping. He hasn’t missed a beat.
“People don’t notice that but, given our kicking game, we do notice it with A.J. I was thrilled for him. That was a really nice run.”
Newbury Park’s Endicott, who completed 15-of-26 passes for 209 yards in the first half, was pressured into a 3-for-10, 35-yard second half by Bishop’s pass rush. Canan Ramirez and LogoLogo Va’a recorded sacks for the Cardinals.
“I thought as the game wore on, we were able to get a fair amount of pressure without having to bring as many guys,” Crawford said. “I thought in the secondary, we continued to play pretty solid.”
The Cardinals wound up out-gaining the Panthers in total yards, 384-216.
“It was a satisfying night,” Crawford said. “It was good just to see us play well in all facets, and get a lot of guys into the game.”
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