CORPUS CHRISTI — The Gregory-Portland defense was put in a tight position twice early against rival Calallen. And both times the G-P defense made fourth down stops to change the momentum early in a game they ended up dominating.
Gregory-Portland’s defense stopped Calallen four times on fourth down, including two key stops in the first quarter deep in its own territory, that made the difference in a 47-7 victory on Friday, Sept. 11 at Phil Danaher Stadium.
It’s the type of defensive performance that goes a long way for momentum for the rest of the season, but also shows how well G-P is playing at this early point in the season.
“Man, they played lights out, all night long,” G-P coach Brent Davis said of the defense. “You know we put them in a bind there early when we had some issues down there inside our own 20 and they went out there and stopped them from getting in the end zone. That momentum shift was huge.”
Calallen’s lone touchdown came on a kickoff return late in the second quarter, and other than that, G-P’s defense kept Calallen’s offense under wraps. Gregory-Portland held Calallen to 194 total yards, including 85 on the ground.
Forty-four of those yards came on Calallen’s first drive, driving to the G-P 8-yard line. But a bad snap, caused a 28-yard loss and then G-P’s defense forced an incompletion on fourth and long. G-P had a little bit of luck but also showed some resiliency in a tight spot.
“It was huge, we really penetrated through the line on fourth downs and we forced them to turn it over to us,” said senior Eli Supnet. “We play with passion, we play together, it’s all teamwork.”
On offense, Carter Dominguez continued to lead a potent attack that produced 457 yards. Kaden Bellard had one of his most productive games this season, rushing for 121 yards and three scores. Dominguez, meanwhile, threw for 200 yards and accounted for one rushing TD and two passing scores. Darion Blackshere scored the other TD for G-P.
It was the defense, though, that helped feed the offense’s confidence.
“Just keep going, keep fighting and work everyday,” Supnet said. “Our defensive game plan is really good, we have great weeks of practice and we just come out here and ball out.”