Rich Hidy ‘12
SSID Managing Director

Bombers Earn First GCL Victory

     On a cold Friday night at St. Xavier’s Ballaban Field, the Bombers defeated rival Elder 21-6 in a tough slugfest that featured both teams keeping the ball on the ground. The Bombers went back to their roots, running the ball over thirty times and only throwing the ball nine times. The Bombers earned the much needed victory behind a dominant defense that only allowed a touchdown in the first quarter (Elder missed the extra point attempt). Elder’s defense looked very strong on Friday until the fourth quarter with the Bombers leading 7-6. In the fourth quarter alone, Elder allowed fourteen points to end the game with a fifteen point deficit. With the victory, the Bombers are now 4-2 and 1-1 in the GCL. Elder is now 2-4 on the year, and 0-1 in the GCL.

     On defense, senior defensive end Bryson Albright had a huge game. Albright recorded eight tackles and four and a half sacks to lead the Bomber defense. Albright seemingly was in on every tackle for the Bombers. Nate Gerbus had a great game as well with three sacks and six tackles. Senior defensive linemen E.J. Parchment and Brian Douglas also each had a sack. Along with the great pressure on Elder quarterback Ben Gramke, the Bomber defense played well in the secondary too. Spencer Stroube had six and a half tackles and two pass breakups, and juniors Joe Barrett and Robby Ries each had four tackles. Corners Jayln Sutton-Jackson and Sean Ahern also had solid coverage on the Elder receivers all game. The leading Panther receiver only had forty-nine yards. If the Bombers can keep shutting down opponents offenses, they should be able to win almost every game from here on out.

     On offense, even though the Bombers went from the shotgun in the spread offense throughout the game, they stuck to the run through running back Conor Hundley and quarterback Griffin Dolle. Hundley had arguably his best game of the year on Friday, carrying the ball twenty-three times for one hundred and thirty-one yards and two touchdowns. He had 5.7 yards per carry and a forty yard touchdown burst late in the fourth to seal the Bomber win. Griffin Dolle only threw the ball nine times, completing four of those passes for six yards. Trey Kilgore came in to play quarterback for a few plays because Dolle was shaken up and completed two passes for seventeen yards. However, the Panthers could not stop Dolle on the ground. Dolle rushed for seventy-two yards on eleven carries for a 6.5 average yards per carry and a rushing touchdown. The Bombers did a nice job creating holes on the offensive line for running the ball and controlling the clock with the running game.

     Next up for the Bombers is LaSalle High School. The Lancers are another GCL opponent that will travel to Ballaban Field to take on St. X. This should be another great game on Friday night, considering it is an inter-conference game. Hopefully, the Bombers will be ready to go in order to advance to 5-2 on the year and a game above .500 in the GCL.