One point is painfully obvious when it comes to confronting the Bishop Ludden football team, and serves as the primary explanation for the team’s 17-game win streak.
And that point is this – either stop the Gaelic Knights from making big plays, or forget about any chance at beating them.
Ludden swatted aside its latest opponent in front of the home fans at Geddes last Friday night, moving to 5-0 on the season and getting its 17th consecutive victory by running right past the Tully Black Knights by a score of 45-20.
Five different times in this game, the Gaelic Knights scored on plays of 45 or more yards, the sort of pattern that can quickly discourage an opponent as Ludden raced to a 45-6 lead on Tully before easing up in the late stages.
Going in, the only concern of any kind on Ludden’s part was the fact that it might have an emotional letdown after the big 26-17 win at Thousand Islands the week before — a come-from-behind effort where big plays turned things around after the visitors fell behind 15-0.
Quickly, the Gaelic Knights put those fears to bed, jumping on the Black Knights 14-0 in the first quarter, no slow start this time.
Devin White began it in somewhat conventional style, scoring on a 10-yard run. Then came the first big blow, with quarterback John Rooney going deep to find Rick Montgomery on a 45-yard touchdown, followed by a two-point pass to Omar Osbourne.
Rooney, who was seven-for-12 for 141 yards on the night, hit again early in the second quarter, a 15-yard TD pass to Mark DeAngelis, but he was far from done.
After Chris Davis’ one-yard TD run got Tully on the board, Rooney took the ball at his own 33-yard line, stepped out of the pocket and took off. Sixty-seven yards later, Rooney had the longest run of his career, and yet another big play had Ludden ahead 27-6.
Osbourne didn’t want to get left out of this. The junior running back, quiet so far, tore through Tully’s defense on a 63-yard touchdown run that served as an exclamation point just before halftime.
In the third quarter, Osbourne (13 carries for 164 yards) offered one more bit of magic, taking a handoff inside his team’s red zone and not stopping until he was in the other end zone 80 yards away. This came after Montgomery returned a punt 45 yards for his second TD of the night.
Ludden is one of three unbeaten teams left in Class C, along with South division rivals Cazenovia and Westmoreland, who will face each other Oct. 18.
Going for its 18th straight win, the Gaelic Knights, all but assured of a Class C playoff spot, will visit Jordan-Elbridge at 7 p.m. J-E won its opener over Tully, but has since lost four straight, including a narrow 34-32 decision to LaFayette last weekend.
