GILMAN 75, CORNELL 0 - As expected, Pirates cruise past overmatched Chiefs

GILMAN 75, CORNELL 0

The expectation was Gilman would have no trouble with Cornell in its 2024 football home opener Friday and that was the case in a 75-0 blowout victory.

The Pirates took advantage of two turnovers in the first minute and good field position to build a 41-0 first-quarter lead and easily improved to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the North Central East Conference standings heading into a highly-anticipated showdown this Friday at McDonell Central.

Gilman head coach Robin Rosemeyer said the Pirates didn’t get to work on all of the things they wanted to on offense, but they what they did get to run, they executed well.

“We were hoping to do a couple of other things that we wanted to work on,” he said. “But our first-team offense only played seven plays and got off. Our kickoff team did a good job just putting us in position to have quick drives. We were hoping to do more but the game dictated that we weren’t going to. It does help to have that kick that gets inside the 10.”

Brayden Olynick was the kicker responsible for keeping Cornell pinned deep in its territory through the first half. His opening kickoff pinned the Chiefs at their five after it was bobbled and on second down, blitzing linebacker Tony Syryczuk batted down an attempted pass by Cornell quarterback Bryce DeJongh and the ball fell right into the hands of defensive end Joey Syryczuk, who was standing on the goal line, for the game’s first touchdown.

Tony Syryczuk had seven tackles, adding to his stellar start to the season on the defensive side of the ball. His play has been key considering Gilman lost Alex Copenhaver to injury during the second quarter. He’s the fifth Pirate middle linebacker to have lost time this season already due to injury.

“Tony’s an outside linebacker playing middle linebacker due to injuries, but he’s aggressive, he’s reading his keys well and he is a good tackler,” Rosemeyer said. “He’s really stepped up for us in that middle linebacker spot. It will be hard to get him out of there. If we get healthy we’ll have some good options defensively.”

Lee Zagorski recovered a fumble at the six on Cornell’s next offensive play and Brady McAlpine scored on the next play to give Gilman a 13-0 lead just 69 seconds into the game. A short punt gave the Pirates the ball at Cornell’s 33 and quarterback Dawson Krizan ran untouched into the end zone on the first snap of that possession. Chad Konsella went 35 yards for a touchdown on his only carry of the game to start Gilman’s next series to make it 27-0 with 7:22 still left in the first quarter.

The Pirates doubled the plays on their next drive needing two plays to go 48 yards. Tony Syryczuk ran for 3 and then 45 yards for the score. Cooper Krug’s fumble recovery at the 19 set up another short scoring drive that ended with an easy 9-yard touchdown run for quarterback Logan Halida with 2:43 left in the quarter.

McAlpine’s 54-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter ended the night for most of Gilman’s first-line offensive players. Freshman Trevin Duellman scored a 3-yard touchdown one play after he ran 25 yards to make it 54-0 at the half.

Sophomore Beau Pockat ripped off a 64yard touchdown run on the first offensive play of the second half, Halida hit Wyatt Orth for an 18-yard touchdown on Gilman’s only completed pass of the night and Duellman added a 13-yard fourth-quarter touchdown.

The Pirates finished with 399 yards of total offense, including 381 rushing yards. Six players had at least 33 rushing yards, led by Pockat’s 88 yards on seven carries.

“The second-teamers did a good job getting in there and moving the ball,” Rosemeyer said. “We were able to execute our base run game offensively. We did throw the one pass on a third and eight. Wyatt Orth made a nice catch and Logan made a nice throw on that one. They executed pretty well. Trevin Duellman had a couple of nice runs. Beau Pockat had a nice run. It was good to see those young guys get a chance and they were able to keep it going.”

DeJongh completed seven of 15 passes for 43 yards for Cornell. Preston Fredrickson caught five of those passes for 27 yards.