Football: Behind a stingy defense and potent offense, No. 11 Mount St. Joseph storms past Gilman, 34-20

BALTIMORE — Heading into Saturday’s contest against Gilman, the entire Mount St. Joseph football team had only one thing on their minds.

And that was to halt their losing streak against the Greyhounds that dated back to 2009.

“We knew we hadn’t beat them in a long time,” said MSJ quarterback Christian Carter. “We had the fire in our eyes.”

With the mystique empowering their mindset, the Gaels were in familiar territory, down 13-0 in the first eight minutes and 20 seconds. Behind a stingy defense and potent offense, MSJ never wavered their confidence to wipe away the deficit and eight year drought to reel off 34 unanswered points in the second and third quarter to storm past Gilman, 34-20.

“They rallied,” said MSJ head coach Rich Holzer . “This team has proven themselves now. They’re young, but they’ve proven they can hang, and they know they can hang with anybody. I think they had the confidence to come back.”

After a shaky first quarter in which they were outworked offensively, down by 13 and only managing 53 total yards of offense compared to Gilman’s 143, Holzer took off the suppressor and let his quarterback, Carter, and slew of weapons go to work in the no-huddle offense.

“I took my play script actually and tore it up in front of the offense, and said, ‘Guess what? It’s 7-on-7 time, here wo go’,” Holzer said. “The receivers got fired up because that means we’re going to throw nonstop.”

For the final three quarters, MSJ (4-1, 1-0 MIAA) lined up in four and five wide receiver sets, outmatching Gilman’s (1-4, 0-1 MIAA) secondary. They also took advantage of stifling stops by the defense, including a forced fumble to set up the Gaels first scoring drive that started at the Gilman 19-yard line.

Five plays later, Carter connected with Gary Agurs on a 4-yard score. Then, after forcing a quick three-and-out, MSJ recovered a mishandled snap on a Gilman punt to set up another offensive drive in the red zone.

Carter darted a 17-pass to Matthew McDonald to give MSJ a lead they would not lose.

“We played as a unit back in 7-on’7’s,” Carter said. “I don’t think we’ve been stopped. … Our receivers, they’re just wonderful.”

Carter, MSJ’s senior shot-caller, finished Saturday afternoon’s contest completing 19 of his 37 passes for 257 yards and three passing touchdowns. He also added 35 yards and one touchdown on the ground, capping a commendable performance.

“He’s been as good as advertised this year,” Holzer said of Carter. “I have no complaints about him. He’s a Division I caliber quarterback, and I’m proud of him.”

Carter’s third touchdown pass came on a 58-yard catch and score to Keyshawn Hailey two minutes and three seconds into the second half. Hailey finished the afternoon with five receptions for 111 yards.

On top of the 34-point charge in the second and quarter, MSJ held Gilman to 23 total yards of offense and three first downs during that span. They also forced three turnovers behind Justin Looney’s two sack performance.

“They’ve been playing well all year,” Holzer said of the defense. “Even when we put them in bad situations, they come up with stops. They’re very athletic, very fast and aggressive. … Our defense did a nice job. They tightened up when they had to and made some big plays.”

Sam James, who finished with 92 yards on 19 carries, scored the Gaels final touchdown on a 3-yard run with 31 seconds left in the third.

Gilman was paced by Brandon Maddison’s 217 total yards and three touchdowns. The Greyhounds host St. Frances next Friday. MSJ hosts Silver Oak Academy next Saturday at 1:00 pm with aspirations to capture an MIAA title.

“We’re getting to the point now where we expect to be a good team,” Holzer said. “The guys are excited they beat Gilman for the first time in a while, but they also understand they need to be 1-0 each week. We need to focus on one game at a time and keep winning. I’m pretty fired up, it’s always good to win.”

 

Box score

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
MSJ (4-1)	0	21	13	0	34
GS (1-4)	13	0	0	7	20

 

Scoring summary

First quarter

GS — Brandon Madison 35-yard pass from Purnell Hill (Run failed), 7:16

GS — Brandon Willis 2-yard run (PAT good), 3:40

Second quarter

MSJ — Gary Agurs 4-yard pass from Christian Carter (PAT good), 10:39

MSJ — Matthew McDonald 17-yard pass from Christian Carter (PAT good), 8:51

MSJ — Christian Carter 7-yard run (PAT good), 2:49

Third quarter

MSJ — Keyshawn Hailey 58-yard pass from Christian Carter (Kick blocked), 9:57

MSJ — Sam James 3-yard run (PAT good), 0:31

Fourth quarter

GS — Brandon Madison 3-yard run (PAT good), 6:36

Individual statistics

GILMAN PASSING

No. 2 Purnell Hill — 11-30, 230 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception, 61.8 QBR

GILMAN RUSHING

No. 3 Brandon Madison — 15-67 (4.5 YPC), 2 touchdowns, 30 long

No. 4 Brandon Willis — 4-9 (2.3 YPC), 1 touchdown, 4 long

No. 2 Purnell Hill — 6-5 (0.8 YPC), 9 long

No. 1 Robert Levine — 1-2 (1.0 YPC), 3 long

No. 34 — 1-1 (1.0 YPC), 1 long

No. 11 Mason Freeman — 1-(minus 3), -3 long

TOTAL — 28-80 (2.9 YPC), 3 touchdowns, 30 long

GILMAN RECEIVING

No. 3 Brandon Madison — 5-150 (30.0 YPR), 1 touchdown, 61 long

No. 7 Earl Booker — 2-41 (20.5 YPR), 23 long

No. 17 — 1-19 (19.0 YPR), 19 long

No. 14 James Bond — 2-12 (6.0 YPR), 7 long

No. 4 Brandon Willis — 1-7 (7.0 YPR), 7 long

MSJ PASSING

No. 1 Christian Carter — 19-37, 257 yards, 3 touchdowns, 100.8 QBR

MSJ RUSHING

No. 4 Sam James — 19-92 (4.8 YPC), 1 touchdown, 16 long

No. 1 Christian Carter — 13-35 (2.7 YPC), 1 touchdown, 10 long

No. 20 Marlowe Wax — 2-18 (9.0 YPC), 21 long

TOTAL — 34-145 (4.3 YPC), 2 touchdowns, 21 long

MSJ RECEIVING

No. 6 Keyshawn Hailey — 5-111 (22.2 YPR), 1 touchdown, 58 long

No. 12 Ari Weems — 5-54 (10.8 YPR), 20 long

No. 10 Gary Agurs — 5-41 (8.2 YPR), 1 touchdown, 17 long

No. 14 Matthew McDonald — 4-41 (10.3 YPR), 1 touchdown, 17 long