Cardinal Gibbons came back in the second half to stun Cleveland. Here’s how it unfolded
Donovan Shepard and Omarion Hampton delivered.
The highly touted running backs lived up to their billing during Cardinal Gibbons’ visit to Cleveland’s John Jacobs Stadium for Friday’s N.C. 4A football playoffs third round game.
Hampton, a North Carolina commit, ran for 239 yards and three touchdowns. Shepard, the N.C. single game rushing yard record holder, tallied 206 ground yards before having a postgame college recruiting conversation with Crusaders coach Steven Wright.
Shepard, an uncommitted senior running back, assured his coach that recruiting visit would have to wait after leading Cardinal Gibbons (11-2) to a 29-21 win Friday, helping his team continue chasing its first state championship.
“We had over 500 yards of offense,” Wright said. “But our defense was just unbelievable in the second half.”
Cleveland (11-1) led 21-12 at halftime before the Crusaders’ highly touted defense closed the game with two scoreless quarters.
Hampton rushed for three touchdowns in the first half, including at the first and second quarters’ 9:59 mark. His first, a nine-yard scamper, assured the Rams wouldn’t be shut out for a second consecutive home game against the Crusaders. (Cardinal Gibbons, the last team to win at Cleveland, won the teams’ September 20, 2019 meeting, 36-0.)
Hampton scored twice in the second quarter, including a 51-yard run off left tackle 5:05 before halftime.
“There weren’t a ton of adjustments. It was we’ve got to tackle better,” Wright said. “That was it. That was the halftime adjustment.”
On a night, seemingly, for seniors, Cardinal Gibbons sophomore Ryan Ziegler ran for two third-quarter touchdowns that secured the Crusaders’ third consecutive state quarterfinals berth. Ziegler turned a fourth down and three yards to go into a 41 yards touchdown scamper down the left sideline and just inside the pylon with 9:32 remaining in the period. Ziegler’s three-yard touchdown run with 5:14 left in the stanza gave Cleveland its first scoring deficit during its 12 games this fall season.
Cardinal Gibbons kicker Ethan Hastings converted extra points after Ziegler’s two touchdowns and a 33-yard field goal with 11:54 to play to cement the final score.
Hampton finished the first half with 176 rushing yards on 17 carries. Shepard ran for 148 yards on 20 carries in the first two quarters. What would have been Shepard’s and the Crusaders’ first touchdown — a 25-yard run at the first quarter’s 7:25 mark — was negated by holding.
“The linemen and both tight ends blocked exceptionally tonight,” Shepard said. “I know that first one got called back. That just showed me the holes are open. We just kept pounding and pounding.”
Shepard reached the end zone 3:58 before halftime on his 30-yard touchdown run off left tackle. Cardinal Gibbons scored its first points on Connor Clark’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Brock Chappell on the second quarter’s first play. The Crusaders attempted and missed two-point conversions after their first two touchdowns.
The Rams’ last two scoring chances were defused by the rarest of occurrences. With 11:04 remaining, Cardinal Gibbons’ Ethan Grace recovered Hampton’s very first fumble this season. The Crusaders halted Hampton’s advance on fourth down and one yard to go from Cardinal Gibbons’ 40-yard line with 2:46 to play.
“Our kids played their hearts out,” Cleveland coach Scott Riley said. “They’ll have no regrets when they wake up (Saturday), because they gave everything they had.”
Cardinal Gibbons will host Panther Creek the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 12:05 AM.