Second half surge powers Chaminade to victory against fellow top 10 nationally-ranked foe
The last game Chaminade played on national television against a top 10 opponent left soured an otherwise successful season.
The Lions refused to let that happen again.
It’s been eight months since Chaminade left Las Vegas humbled after a 49-14 loss to Bishop Gorman that ended its 2022 campaign.
The Lions found themselves behind at halftime on Saturday afternoon against fellow top 10 foe St. Frances Academy (Md.) before scoring 28 unanswered points and cruising to a 35-14 victory at St. Thomas Aquinas.
For Chaminade (1-0), a team ranked No. 7 nationally by MaxPreps with its sights set on winning a third consecutive state title and what would be its sixth in a seven-year span, the victory was the first of several tests it will face over the first half of the season on a potential path to a national championship.
The Lions, who face four more nationally-ranked opponents over the next four weeks as they’ll take on Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons, Bergen Catholic (NJ), Plantation American Heritage and Miami Central.
“One at a time,” Chaminade coach Dameon Jones said. “We’re not looking ahead of any one so we just have to knock them out one game at a time, that’s it.”
With its offense struggling to find the end zone, the Lions fell behind 14-7 right before halftime.
Senior running back Davion Gause, a North Carolina commitment, led the charge in the second half, rushing for touchdowns of 45 and 57 yards with the second putting the game away with 6:22 remaining. Gause led Chaminade with 182 yards on 18 carries.
“We just had to keep up the same intensity we had in the first half,” Gause said. “We just had to focus on our execution.”
Quarterback Cedrick Bailey went 11 for 18 for 72 yards with one touchdown - a 14-yarder to Jeremiah Smith - and an interception.
St. Frances Academy’s players appeared to have trouble with the intense afternoon heat and humidity in the second half while Chaminade’s found its rhythm.
“South Florida weather is different and we practice every day in it and on this kind of turf,” Jones said. “Our heat is a little different down here than their heat so you could tell in the third and fourth quarter when they were dropping we were still going strong.”
The Lions’ defense kept Chaminade in the game early and both started and ended the scoring in the game.
Thanks to some pressure on a safety blitz by senior Zaquan Patterson, St. Frances quarterback Michael Van Buren forced a throw that hit Chaminade junior defensive tackle Donta Simpson square in the numbers. Simpson rumbled 30 yards for a touchdown that gave the Lions their first lead 7-6.
Patterson later announced his verbal commitment to the University of Miami during an ESPN interview at halftime.
Bryant Julius sealed the game with his 20-yard interception return for a touchdown with 38 seconds remaining.
“The play didn’t feel real. It felt like a dream,” Simpson said. “We just went out there and executed and y’all going to get this from us all year.”
