For a handful of the seniors on the Bishop Gorman football roster, this game was about revenge.
They were part of the Gaels’ 2019 team that lost a hard-fought game at St. Louis of Hawaii, leaving the field that evening with the feeling that they let one get a way.
That was hardly the case Friday night in the rematch.
Senior Cam Barfield rushed for five touchdowns and nearly 150 yards, and Gorman turned a close game in the first half into a convincing 42-21 victory.
The game went back and forth in the first half until Barfield took a hand off and raced 57 yards for a touchdown. After he broke through the line of scrimmage, it was a foot race to the end zone, and there aren’t too many defenders who can match Barfield’s speed in the open field.
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That’s especially true when the running back has extra motivation.
“Today, we had payback from back (in 2019). We came in ready to play,” Barfield said. “We had to get them.”
The game was even at 14-all in the second quarter, but Gorman scored 28 unanswered points to take a commanding lead entering the fourth quarter.
The Gaels dominated the line of scrimmage, whether that was the offensive line giving Barfield room to run or defensively with edge rusher Cyrus Moss pressuring the St. Louis quarterback on most plays.
“That’s a really good team,” Gorman coach Brent Browner said of St. Louis. “That’s a big, strong physical team that came out here to play. For what we did, I couldn’t be more proud of our guys.”
The game was Gorman’s first of five against mostly notable out-of-town competition in an attempt to be ready for league play. And league play is where Gorman’s next revenge game will come.
The Gaels posted an 11-2 record in 2019, losing their second game in the playoffs against Liberty. The schools will likely meet again in the 2021 postseason.
But, first, it’s Bishop Manogue of Reno next week — another opportunity to continue improving, Browner said.
“The kids settled down because the first-game jitters were out,” the coach said. “We are ready to keep rolling.”