DALLAS — Revenge never tasted so sweet.
After falling to Argyle Liberty Christian late in the season, Bishop Dunne rebounded in a major way as it cruised to a 36-0 Saturday win in the first round of the TAPPS 11-man Division I state playoffs.
“To see those guys come back and respond after losing to this team earlier in the year, shows this team will never die,” said Michael Johnson, Bishop Dunne’s head football coach. “We never give up and we keep believing. I’m so excited for our guys, especially those seniors.”
Bishop Dunne was dominant in all three phases of the game, but it was special teams that arguably made the difference in this game.
Senior defensive tackle Calvin Avery, who is committed to Illinois, blocked a punt on Liberty Christian’s opening drive. Junior Gabe Matous recovered the ball in the end zone to give Bishop Dunne an early 7-0 lead.
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But the special teams’ miscues didn’t stop there for Liberty Christian.
Bishop Dunne forced a punt on the ensuing drive and again came away with a block. This time, the Falcons scored on a safety. After getting the ball back, Bishop Dunne scored just minutes later on a short touchdown run by junior running back Terrance Shaw to take a 16-0 advantage.
The second half was much of the same for Liberty Christian. Two botched punts led to Bishop Dunne’s final two scores of the game.
“Those are things we worked on in practice,” Johnson said. “We talked about how they were going to do the rugby-style kick. Calvin did a great job of blocking one, and Roscoe (Jones) blocked one as well. It’s something we prepared for every day.”
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Avery, Marquez Beason, who had the game-sealing interception in the fourth quarter, and the Bishop Dunne defense frustrated the Liberty Christian offense throughout the game and played perhaps its best game of the season as a unit.
“It felt good to get a great team win,” Beason said. “We made a lot of plays on defense. My team motivated me to get that pick at the end. I was the only one that didn’t have an interception this season, so I had to get one.”
Bishop Dunne advances to the quarterfinal round of the playoffs, where it will face Houston St. Pius, which is coming off a 56-12 blowout win over San Antonio Antonian Prep. The game is slated for 2 p.m. Saturday in Temple.
“St. Pius has a great team,” Johnson said. “Offensively, they are always going to be great. They have a lot of DI players. We have to cut the tape the tape on, game plan and get ready for next week.”
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