Pete Gorynski tried to quickly move his team past its worst performance of the season in its biggest game to date.
The Fordham Prep coach watched his team get dominated, 41-7, by Christ the King in the CHSFL Class AA semifinals at Franklin K. Lance last Saturday. While Gorynski wants to see his kids channel the frustration, the focus quickly shifted to the squad’s annual Thanksgiving Day clash with rival Xavier.
“We have to,” the coach said. “You can’t dwell on this. There was nothing really positive to take from today. Christ the King was far and away the better team.”
The Rams (8-3) will need to be much improved if it wants end its season with a win over the Knights. Their offense sputtered after tying the score at 7-7 with a 16-yard touchdown pass from Matt Valecce to Rory Allen on Fordham’s first possession of the game.
A fumble by Joshua Johnson set the Royals up at the Rams’ 19-yard line and David Navas threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Alex Miranda to help put the Royals up 21-7 with 8:50 to play in the first half. Garfield Hall intercepted Vallecce at the CK 10-yard line and a fourth quarter drive ended at the Royals’ 15-yard line.
“We had the opportunity to get down there a couple of times and we came up short,” Gorynski said. “We couldn’t get guys open as we have had success all year doing it. We couldn’t establish a running game.”
His defense, playing without inside linebacker Aiden Donnelly and defensive end Owen Fearon because of injuries, struggled to contain the Christ the King running game. CK (11-0) took chunks of yards at time saw three different running backs find the end zone. Siddiq Mohammad carried the ball 11 times for 156 yards and two scores and Adrian Velez added two touchdowns. To make things worst, Fordham’s junior linebacker Jose Matos III left that game in the third quarter with a back injury.
Despite how poorly Fordham played Gorynski is confident you will see a different team 10 a.m. at Aviator Sports Complex on Thanksgiving Day.
“I preach responding to adversity all the time,” Gorynski said. “My feeling is we will bounce back.”
