RALEIGH — The Cardinal Gibbons football team took advantage of its shot at revenge.
The fourth-seeded Crusaders defeated No. 6 Scotland 22-15 in the 4A East Regional on Friday night. Cardinal Gibbons advanced to the 4A state championship game, and the Crusaders also avenged their loss to Scotland in last year’s playoffs.
The loss left Scotland’s overall record at 12-3.
“We had a few chances, some near-misses,” Scotland coach Richard Bailey said. “Their inside guys we knew were tough, and we had trouble protecting inside. We knew it was going to be hard to run inside, and we knew it was going to be hard to protect inside. It was.
“They’re a really good football team. They really are. Probably the favorite to win next week in Chapel Hill.”
Scotland generated 344 yards of total offense. Kyshaun Galberth picked up 50 yards on 10 carries. Bruce Wall completed 12 of his 21 passes for 216 yards. DeAndre McKinnon had five catches for 121 yards. He averaged 24 yards per reception. Trey Chavis had three catches for 46 yards.
For Cardinal Gibbons, Jack Grazen picked up 102 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Brock Biestek tallied five catches for 80 yards.
There was only one score in the second half, a 2-yard run by Grazen early in the third quarter. That broke a 15-15 tie, and it proved to be the winning touchdown.
Cardinal Gibbons struck first on a 5-yard touchdown run by Biestek on the game’s opening drive. But on Scotland’s first drive, Wall evened the score at 7 with a 1-yard touchdown run.
On the ensuing Gibbons drive, the Crusaders took a 15-7 lead with two runs by Myles Harp — one for a touchdown, and another for a 2-point conversion.
After a couple of punts by both teams, Wall scored on a 3-yard run in the second quarter. Wall then scored on a 2-point conversion run to tie the score at 15.
In the final seconds of the first half, a 38-yard field goal attempt by the Scotland’s Andrew Oswald fell short. Oswald actually had two attempts. His first try was nullified because Gibbons called timeout right before the snap, but it looked like his kick had the distance.
In the late stages of a rough second half that featured numerous punts by both teams and a couple of turnovers by the Scots, Scotland had a chance to force overtime or try to take the lead. After a Gibbons punt, Scotland had the ball on its own 22-yard line with 2 minutes left in the game. But the Crusader defense held strong, and the Scots eventually faced a fourth-and-18 near midfield. Wall completed a pass to Kyshaun Galberth, who had some room to run, but Gibbons defenders brought him down just shy of the first-down marker.
“I’m proud of our kids. I’m proud of our coaches,” Bailey said. “It’s disappointing, but I told our seniors that’s two state championship (appearances) and an Eastern (Regional) final in their four years at Scotland. Most kids never get to anything near that, ever.”
