Cardinal Gibbons roared out to a 22-0 lead and never looked back as the Crusaders defeated Cedar Ridge 50-7 in Hillsborough on Friday night at Red Wolves Stadium.
The only positive note for Cedar Ridge came in the 2nd quarter. On a 4th-and-24, quarterback Peyton Pappas threw to Demetrius Liles for a 27-yard touchdown.
Aside from that, it was all Crusaders from beginning to end. Gibbons opened the game with a 8-play, 72 yard drive where running back Dalen Spruil carried the ball the first five plays, racking up 27 yards. After quarterback Wesley Wagner threw to Sean Nalesnik to the Red Wolves 1-yard line, fullback Brendan Schult scored on a 1-yard plunge, and the rout was on.
After a Cedar Ridge 3-and-out, the Red Wolves appeared to be cruising to another touchdown drive, only to have Spruil fumble at the 2-yard line. Montae Kee recovered for the Red Wolves. It was the only Gibbons turnover in the game. The only other drive where Gibbons didn’t score came at the very end, long after the game had been decided.
Pappas finished 13-for-30 for 117 yards and a touchdown. Cedar Ridge falls for 2-3 and travels to Chapel Hill next week in its Big 8 Conference opener. Chapel Hill retained the Hodgin Cup on Friday night for the 12th straight year by defeating East Chapel Hill 41-12.