Chiefs methodically dismantle Eagles

FORT LAUDERDALE — Cardinal Gibbons coach Matt DuBuc knows there is work to do, even after a 33-0 win over visiting Calvary Christian Academy on Friday night.

“There is the old saying when you start so early, so fast, the bubble gets burst,” DuBuc said. “They you think it is going to be an easy night and it’s not.”

Cardinal Gibbons wasted little time and taking a 7-0 lead as Jeremiah Chambers returned the opening kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown. They were all the points the Chiefs (2-0) would need as their stingy defense pitched a shutout. The defending Class

4A state champion Chiefs, ranked 32nd in the nation, gave up just six points in its season-opener, an 11-6 victory over DeMatha (Maryland) last week.

On their first offensive drive, they were able to pad their lead to 10 -0 on a

21-yard field goal by Robert Hammond with 6:53 left in the first quarter which capped a short drive following a short Eagles’ punt.

Calvary Christian Academy (1-1) had rolled to a 49-6 season-opening win over Belen Jesuit but could only muster 71 yards on the ground and 92 yards in the air, most of it coming on a 40-yard pass play from Cecil Stone to Yohan-Li Louis. Running back Reggie Heyward, who ran for 1,457 yards and three TDs last week, was held in check with eight carries for

64 yards.

“The defense has been great,” DuBuc said. “Dave and Jack and the rest of the staff have been doing a great job. You get to a point where you let the players go out and do their thing. They [Calvary Christian] are a good football team. They scored 49 points last week. We gave up a few long ones, but we’ll get that fixed.”

Cardinal Gibbons broke open a tight game in the second half on a safety when Chris Williams sacked Stone and knocked the ball out of his hands and out of the end zone to up the lead to 12-0.

The Chiefs, playing without starting quarterback and UCF commit Dylan Rizk, struggled to get anything going through the air.

Junior quarterback Michael Merdinger, a transfer from Deerfield Beach, was 16 of 30 for 187 yards and an interception. He did have a 60-yard scoring toss on a wide receiver screen to Komani Beneby that upped the lead to 19-0 with 4:35 left in the third quarter.

Torrence Miller scored on a 29-yard run and Patrick Anderson made it 33-0 with a 4-yard scoring run off tackle to extend the margin to 33-0 with 6:07 left in the game.

“The big fear is when you have a game like we had last week where you played with so much energy and intensity, and then you play a team that you beat last year, it is human nature,” DuBuc added. “You see it on Friday nights and Saturdays. I think we took it hook, line and sinker …

“I think we just have to mature,” he said. “We have a lot of plug-in guys who have been on varsity and haven’t played. They are going to make mistakes being pushed into a new role and we are going to have to pick up our intensity against Gulliver Prep next week if we want a shot. We built the schedule like this and hopefully in November we are talking about hitting on all cylinders and not just a half a cylinder.”