Ft. Pierce, FL.- When top two teams from their respective Counties face off under the bright lights of Thursday Night Football, one would reasonably expect a competitive back and forth affair.
What one (I) didn’t expect was a good ole fashioned 49-0 mollywhopping. Tonight, the #2 ranked Cardinal Newman Crusaders of Palm Beach County traveled to Ft. Pierce to take on the John Carroll Catholic Golden Rams of the Treasure Coast. Maybe it was the thought of the regular season officially coming back into swing, or maybe it was the holy water anointed to each team pre game, but those Crusaders were ready to put on a show.
Cardinal Newman began the game with a BANG as Sophomore EDGE Ty Kirkpatrick blew up the Golden Rams’ opening play of the game, launching the opposing running back seven yards into the backfield before “planting the spear” on his downed body. Two plays later, the Golden Rams were forced to punt on their opening drive, only for a botched snap to throw off the timing of the play and the ball to be blocked by Kahlil Gabaud.
On their opening offensive drive, the Crusaders marched down the field, and hit payday on a 7 yard QB keeper by West Virginia Commit Jyron Hughley. After some back and forth action throughout the remainder of the first, Newman held that slight 7-nil lead over John Carroll.
The following moments weren’t only the beginning of the second quarter, it became the introduction of the Phoenix Donghia show. Donghia, a 6 foot running back who’s known for his yards after contact and powerful rushes broke off his first of many big runs of the evening, taking a 49 yard rush straight to the bank, extending the Newman lead to 14-0.
Two minutes later, Cardinal Newman’s offense found themselves back inside the five, the James Madison commit Donghia controlled a direct snap, bounced right and was celebrating in the end zone shortly thereafter. (XP No Good, 20-0 CN)
I have no clue how it was possible for Newman’s offense to be back on the field a minute and a half later, but sure enough it happened.
I’ll be completely honest with you dear reader, I was pre occupied attempting to upload Donghia’s second rushing score to social media and I completely missed him breaking off yet ANOTHER thirty yard rush to complete the hat trick. (27-0 CN).
During the final drive of the half, Newman’s starters had one last chance to record some stats. Just under a minute left in the second quarter, Hughley took the snap and hit Leslie Mosley Jr on a 6 yard out route. Mosley got his feet set just in front of the sideline, and activated his ‘Human Joystick X-Factor’ as he proceeds to make the Golden Ram defense look silly during a mad dash to the end zone.
With the hope of activating the 35 point deficit running clock for the second half, Jyron kept it himself, bounced left and drove himself into the end zone for the 2 Point Conversion. Following the play’s completion, Hughley knew his night was practically over, and hit the YKNiece Dance that’s been taking TikTok by storm in celebration.
During the second half, Cardinal Newman still applied pressure, as RB Janarro Sumpter broke off a few nice runs and scored on a 9 yard rushing TD. 2027 QB Billy Connolly took command of the offense late in the game and didn’t disappoint, leading the Crusaders down the field on a drive that was capped by a Luke Dillion TD rush which would inevitably set the game in stone. (49-0).
In the waning moments of the night, Kahlil Gabaud would reset the eyes to him, as he caught a leaping interception in the final minute of the game.
Cardinal Newman now advances to 1-0 on the regular season, and turns their attention to a tough week two matchup vs Philadelphia’s Roman Catholic.
