Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Sun Standout Award: Bishop Gorman High School football team

Bishop Gorman football

Christopher DeVargas

Bishop Gorman football coach Kenny Sanchez, center, led the Gaels to another state championship this year.

Many expected the Bishop Gorman High football team to decline last fall in coach Kenny Sanchez’s first season. Instead, the Gaels finished at No. 1 for the second consecutive year as determined by USA Today, which has compiled the nation’s pre-eminent high school fooball rankings since 1982.

Gorman extended its winning streak to 39 games to capture its second consecutive mythical national championship and seventh consecutive state title, making it the ideal candidate to receive the Sun Standout Award. The honor is reserved for overall excellence, which Gorman has displayed while bringing national acclaim to the area for its dynasty.

Coach Tony Sanchez, Kenny’s older brother, left in 2014 after six seasons and 85 wins to coach UNLV. And many of Gorman’s best players, especially on defense, earned college scholarships to such notable programs as Notre Dame.

So Kenny Sanchez’s approach was simple: Why try to fix something that wasn’t broken? He kept the same training schedule and coaching philosophies in place to help ease the transition. Last fall quickly became an extension of the previous season’s success.

“The ingredients were already there,” Sanchez said. “We tried to get better, little by little, at what we were already doing. Why change? I don’t know any better.”

Gorman did more than finish with an undefeated record. It was rarely challenged into the second half of any game, outscoring opponents 757-165 and defeating six elite out-of-state opponents. Highlights included downing New Jersey power Don Bosco before a national TV audience on ESPN.

Biaggio Ali-Walsh was the Gatorade Player of the Year after rushing for 2,451 yards and 33 touchdowns. Quarterback Tate Martell lived up to his five-star recruit billing, and the Gorman senior class — a perceived weakness — provided the backbone of the lineup. Linemen Julio Garcia II and Jaron Caldwell were three-year starters on the offensive line and signed with UNLV.

“We wanted to make our own legacy, and we did that,” said Brandon Gahagan, a wide receiver who will play at Oregon in the fall after finishing with 648 receiving yards and seven touchdowns. “For a lot of us, we had been around the program for a long time. We wanted to continue the winning. With that mentality, it made coach (Kenny) Sanchez’s job as head coach easier.”

Sanchez quickly turned the page to next season. He had more than 100 returning players, including Martell and Ali-Walsh, in the weight room the first Monday in January 2016 to start preparing for the challenge of a new season. The Gaels open Aug. 27 on ESPN at Cedar Hill High of the Dallas area, facing a program projected to be the best in Texas, and in front of an expected 10,000 fans.

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