Chaminade Survives Second Half Summit Surge In Win

Going into Friday night's season opener for Chaminade, the Red Devils' plan was to wear down their visiting Rockwood Summit opponents and to score at least 28 points. The heat did enough to wear down both squads, but the Red Devils were first to crack the 28 point plateau and needed every one of them and then some in a 30-28 win over the Falcons.

Dominic Bobo carried 28 times for 123 yards and scored two touchdowns, the second coming late in the fourth quarter as the Red Devils withstood a second half Summit charge of 21 unanswered points.

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The Chaminade defense forced two turnovers in the first half on a Phillip Mannino fumble recovery and a Roderick Campbell interception and turned them into 10 points, with a Thomas Martin field goal and a 22 yard TD pass from Martin to Tight End Mark Gorman, who added another score late in the first half with a one-handed grab in the near left corner of the endzone.

"I cut across and when I saw the ball in the air I saw it overshot, but I just kept pushing and pushing myself and eventually just stuck my hand out there and it landed right in my hand," Gorman, a junior who had 6 catches for 92 yards and a pair of TDs, said.

In the second half, Rockwood was sparked by quarterback Matt Seymour, running back Keecie Powell and wide receiver Jordan Haliburton. After a 34 yard score by Seymour, the Falcons recovered an onside kick. A deep pass to Haliburton with Roderick Campbell draped all over him led to a Seymour keeper from inside the 2 yard line. A two point conversion cut the Chaminade lead to 23-15 in the third, and later, a pair of roughing penalties by Chaminade extended a Summit drive that led to a Sam Pennington touchdown to cut the lead to 23-21 minutes into the fourth quarter.

A Bobo fumble deep in Rockwood territory didn't come back to haunt Chaminade and on the next Red Devil possession, he made amends with a 20 yard run untouched up the middle, only to see Haliburton return the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

The teams traded possessions again late, but Summit was unable to mount a final charge.

"It didn't come down to that, it was what we did so poorly for the quarter and a half in the first half," Summit Head Coach Mike Bellers told his squad after the game, critical of the team's chaotic activity in the first half on special teams as players came in and out with injuries. "The only thing that I can hope that we can take what we did well tonight and build on it, there were some guys who played their ass off," he said.

"Rockwood didn't give up. But we kept fighting, through the cramps through the heat. We didn't give up," new Chaminade Head Coach Antoine Torrey said after his first win in charge of the program. "The line of scrimmage was great down the stretch when we needed it most, Bobo got some good some big yards running behind (offensive lineman Brendan Weis and these two tight ends and that was the key, we took care of the ball when we needed it most."

Torrey will look to cut down on penalties, giving up at least 80 yards on infractions, and if he was low-key about getting off to a winning start this season, his players saw it differently.

"It was huge. It sets the tempo for the entire season," TE/DE Mark Verseman said, contrasting the 2012 opener against Summit. "Last year we had a big turn out of fans and they crushed us and never saw fans again. This year they're going to keep coming back after a victory like that."

Next Week: Rockwood Summit goes on the road to Fox, while Chaminade stays at home and welcomes Roosevelt.