On Halloween, Fordham Prep didn’t have to go trick or treating or pop in “Friday the 13th” to provide itself with a good scare.
The Rams played a first half that head coach Pete Gorynski called “horrific,” one in which nothing seemed to go right as they turned the ball over twice and missed two field goals.
“The first series on defense was ridiculous,” Gorynski said. “Our offense was worse than the defense.”
But like they have all season, the Rams responded with relentless resiliency. They scored 28 unanswered points, 21 in the third quarter, behind sophomore running back Logan Williamson and unnerving quarterback Max Kinder for a 28-6 victory over visiting Chaminade in a CHSFL Class AAA game at Coffey Field Sunday night. The win completes the program’s first unbeaten regular season as a ‘AAA’ club.
“It’s special,” senior safety Allan Bonzo said… “We felt [the pressure of going undefeated], the first half was over, the jitters were out. We forgot about the pressure and we just came out played ball.”
The winless Flyers (0-8, 0-7) led 6-0 at the half on the strength of a 19-yard touchdown pass from Kyle Johnson to Zachary Ogilvie on the game’s opening drive. James Monahan picked off Kinder on their first series and Robert Vasallo got him again on the goal line early in the second quarter.
Kicker Steven Broccoli, who missed three field goals in the game, couldn’t connect from 36 and 30 yards in the first half, the first hitting the right upright. The Rams defense didn’t allow those mistakes to come back and haunt them and got a big interception from Matt Casella on their own 17 right before halftime.
“After the first drive I knew we would be stout,” Bronzo said of the defense. “We always come back.”
Williamson, starting his third game since star back Michael Seminario broke his collarbone, was a big reason why. He burst through holes, bounced off tacklers and carried defenders for extra yards. Williamson ran for 194 yards yards on 29 carries. He had a 20-yard run up the middle on third down that keep the Rams’ first scoring drive alive. Kinder (9-of-14, 123 yards) then connected with Rice for a 36-yard gain to help set up Bronzo’s 3-yard touchdown run that gave his team the lead for good with 7:22 left third quarter.
“This is the greatest I’ve ever seen him run, in practice games, even on the JV level,” Bronzo said of Williamson. “He ran hard tonight. He found the holes. He did everything.”
After a three-and-out by the Flyers, Kinder connected with Devin Rice for 17 yards, Williamson had a 15-yard run and Patrick Argast added a 14-yard reception to set up a 1-yard TD by Bronzo with 2:56 left in the third quarter. The Rams (8-0, 7-0) would score again 53 seconds later as Nick Florez recovered a Chaminade fumble on the next play and Williamson went in for a 1-yard score to make it 21-6. Francis Volpe put an exclamation point on the win with a 33-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the fourth.
“Everything was just clicking,” Williamson said. “It’s like those mistakes never happened.”
The Rams head into the Class AAA playoffs as one of two unbeaten teams along with top-seeded St. Anthony’s. Gorynski preached to his team after the game about the challenges to come. The first is likely against Xaverian Saturday night. Fordham Prep defeated the Clippers, 27-17, at Coffey Field in Week 3.
“I dont know how good we are,” Gorynski said. “But we will find out.”