After first-round playoff rout, Cardinal Gibbons hopes to be hitting its peak
The Cardinal Gibbons offense was celebrating Troy Stellato’s second touchdown catch of the first quarter when Jertavis Black made his proclamation.
“They haven’t played nobody like us,” the Cardinal Gibbons senior defensive lineman bellowed from the sideline. “This is a walkthrough.”
Cardinal Gibbons was already up by three touchdowns against visiting Clewiston just 10 minutes into their Region 4-4A quarterfinal matchup. The offense had scored on each of its drives. The defense had forced a pair of three and outs, with the only positive yardage Clewiston mustered coming via a Cardinal Gibbons penalty.
The Chiefs would go up by 23 at halftime, pull most of their starters afterward and cruise to a 37-7 victory in their final home game of this abbreviated high school football season. Cardinal Gibbons (4-1) will face Gulliver Prep next week in the regional semifinals.
“Having a first-round opponent that we knew we we could take care of, we did our thing on both sides of the ball,” quarterback Brody Palhegyi said. “We knew we were going to take care of business.”
It was the type of dominating performance Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc expects from his team, one eyeing a second state title in three years.
Restrictions put in place this year due to COVID-19, however, have made things difficult at times. They lost quality reps for their air raid offense over the summer, so timing has occasionally been off with passes. Practices are staggered and the locker room has basically been out of commission to comply with social distancing policies.
But Gibbons has still performed so far this season. They went 3-1 in the regular season, including a 17-10 upset over St. Thomas Aquinas and a six-point loss to Class 5A contender Plantation American Heritage.
Friday, DuBuc said, was one of the Chiefs’ more complete efforts.
“We’ve been getting sharper,” DuBuc said, “and if we get sharp at the right time, this is the time to do it. ... We’ve played five games, so now we hope to be hitting our peak.”
Palhegyi threw for 226 yards, three touchdowns and one interception and added a 15-yard rushing touchdown to give Cardinal Gibbons a 30-7 halftime advantage before handing over the offense to a trio of other quarterbacks. Stellato, a four-star receiver who is orally committed to Clemson, caught three passes for 86 yards and those two touchdowns, also in just one half of action.
And outside of one bad throw and one breakdown on defense, the game was all Cardinal Gibbons from start to finish on Friday.
Palhegyi capped an eight-play, 80-yard opening drive with a 21-yard strike to junior Elisha Edwards over the Clewiston secondary to go up 7-0. Palhegyi then found Stellato in the end zone with a 27-yard pass on the following drive. The Chiefs went up 21-0 on a 52-yard Stellato catch-and-run in which he broke tackles from at least two Clewison defenders.
Clewiston’s lone touchdown came on a 79-yard catch and run in the waning seconds of the first quarter when quarterback Morris James found sophomore Chauncy Cobb down the left sideline. Cobb slipped past a diving Cardinal Gibbons defender and darted unopposed to the end zone.
The Chiefs’ defense kept Clewiston off the board from there.
The Tigers punted on five of their final eight drives, with one of those punts being blocked and returned for a touchdown to open the second half. A Hugo Silsby interception ended another and set Gibbons up for a six-play, 40-yard drive capped by Palhegyi’s 15-yard rushing touchdown to cap scoring in the first half. The other two ended with a sack at the end of the first half and a turnover on downs with about two minutes left in the game.
“We did exactly we we thought we were going to do,” DuBuc said.
This story was originally published November 14, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
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