skip navigation

FB: Gonzaga Pulls Upset Victory over DeMatha, 24-14

By Brian Kapur, 10/18/15, 12:00AM EDT

Share

All week Gonzaga heard the predictions which ranged from a DeMatha win to a Stags blowout victory.

Eagles’ coach Randy Trivers focused the team on their own expectations — specifically expecting to win in front of a national television audience.Gonzaga shocked DeMatha 24-14 on Friday night, toppling the consensus No. 1 team in the area in a game that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate.

The Eagles easily moved the ball up and down the field on offense and only turnovers allowed the Stags to hang around into the fourth quarter. Gonzaga’s offense was paced by sophomore running back Tyree Randolph, who scored twice and racked up 117 yards on 34 touches. Meanwhile junior quarterback Sam Brown completed 14 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. Brown’s favorite target was Max Fisher who gave the team a spark with several big plays including a touchdown.

Meanwhile senior running back Lorenzo Harrison led the Stags with 170 rushing yards, 93 of which came on the team’s first play from scrimmage. That explosive play where Harrison broke three sure tackles and bounced the ball to the opposite side of the formation gave DeMatha an early 7-0 lead. But Gonzaga would respond with 14 unanswered points in the second quarter when Fisher sparked the team with a spectacular catch and a touchdown to tie the game at seven. Then it was Randolph finishing another drive on a one-yard scoring plunge.

After halftime, DeMatha again found a big play. This time Harrison fumbled the ball and it bounced right to Tino Ellis who scooped it up and raced 59-yards for a touchdown to make it a 14-14 game midway through the third quarter.


The play infuriated Randolph on the sideline who told his teammates that the Stags were just getting lucky. Randolph did his best to change the Eagles luck later in the quarter when he scored his second touchdown of the game to give Gonzaga a 21-14 lead.


In the fourth quarter, the Eagles defense defused the Stags’ comeback attempt when senior NaSheed Bridgeman forced a DeMatha fumble and Kyle Taylor fell on the ball to effectively end the game.


Gonzaga will look to stay undefeated when they travel to battle Good Counsel on Friday night at 7 p.m. Meanwhile DeMatha will try to rebound when they travel to play Carroll on Saturday at 2 p.m.