Freshman RB steps up for No. 1 Gorman in rout of Faith Lutheran — PHOTOS

It helps to have a three-headed monster at running back and that luxury comes in handy when attrition hits.

With star junior running backs Corey Hinton Jr. and Noah Cole out, freshman Trey Washington carried the load for the Bishop Gorman football team on Friday night.

Washington had two rushing touchdowns and caught a 34-yard touchdown in the first half, propelling Gorman, No. 1 in the Review-Journal’s Southern Nevada football rankings, to a 45-3 home win over Faith Lutheran on Friday night.

“It felt good,” Washington said. “We’ve been working at this for a very long time, so to see how much work we put in and see all the hard work pays off is good. …

“It’s been a grind. Being myself helps a lot and it’s a good brotherhood so it’s easier to work together.”

With the win, Gorman (5-1, 2-0 5A Southern League) has likely locked up the No. 1 seed in the Open Division state playoffs. The NIAA still uses the controversial HRM points rating system to seed the remaining three playoff eligible 5A Southern teams for the Open Division playoffs.

“We played well,” said Gorman coach Brent Browner, who added Cole and Hinton had minor injuries and were held out for precautionary reasons. “We’re trying to get better and better every single week. That’s the goal right now is to start tuning up.

“A lot of guys got in the game and got to play and see some young guys with Trey Washington. A big win for us, but it’s more about playing good football.”

Washington finished with 87 rushing yards on eight carries. The Gaels were coming off their first-ever win over Mater Dei behind Hinton’s 210 rushing yards. But Washington led a balanced Gorman offensive attack Friday to make sure there would be no letdown as the Gaels face Southern Nevada teams the rest of the regular season.

“It was just a grind,” Washington said. “I had to step up and take the big load for my guys that were injured.

“They had to play their butts off last game (in a 25-8 win at Mater Dei last week), so I owed it to them. I got to keep working and doing it for them.”

On Friday, Faith Lutheran (3-4, 0-1) had life in the first quarter. Trailing 7-0 after an early a 31-yard Washington touchdown run, Faith Lutheran quarterback Dominick Folino connected on three straight passes, which helped the Crusaders get into field goal range.

North Carolina baseball commit Liam Radke drilled a 33-yarder and Faith Lutheran cut the deficit to 7-3 with 2:49 left in the first quarter. The Crusaders’ defense got a break on Gorman’s following possession when Gaels quarterback Ace Amina got hit as he tried to throw the ball, which resulted in a fumble that went out of bounds for a loss of 10 yards.

But it didn’t matter. Amina hit four-star sophomore Zyren Menor on a long pass and Menor raced to the end zone for an 83-yard touchdown, giving the Gaels a 14-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Washington kept running in the second quarter, scoring on a 6-yard run, extending Gorman’s lead to 21-3 with 7:25 before halftime.

“We believed in Trey. We knew he could do it,” Browner said. “We’ve seen in practice for a while now, so we know how good he is.”

Then the Gaels got another possession when Faith Lutheran’s Camello Carter fumbled on what would have been a third-down conversion, which Gorman’s Pesi Silva recovered. Ilijah Narciso added a 5-yard rushing touchdown five plays later.

Gorman added another touchdown with 1:10 before halftime. Amina connected with Washington in the flat and the freshman raced 34 yards for a touchdown to give the Gaels a 35-3 halftime lead.

“I thought we did well (on offense),” Browner said. “There were a couple mishaps, a couple little things, but I think for the most part you saw us hitting on all cylinders. I was really proud of the quarterback play, running back play, o-line played well. Same thing with defense, they had a little hiccup in the first part but they played well.”

Amina finished completing 10 of 13 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns, and Menor had 113 receiving yards on two catches. Narciso finished with 54 rushing yards.

Faith Lutheran plays its last league game on Oct. 16 when it hosts Losee. The winner will likely face off against Gorman in the Open Division state semifinals on Nov. 13. The winner of that state semifinal will advance to the Open Division state title game Nov. 20 at Allegiant Stadium.

The loser of the semifinal will fall to the 5A state title game to play the 5A Northern champion on Nov. 20. The third place team in the 5A Southern League, based on the HRM points system, will qualify straight to the Open Division state title game.