Roaring to 5-0: Even with a small roster, Bradshaw Christian pounds the run
Bradshaw Christian High School is on a roll. Not bad for the small Elk Grove school that has just 1,200 students in pre-school through 12th grade.
The Pride roared again Friday night, dispatching Ygnacio Valley 64-8. Bradshaw Christian improved to 5-0. The star Friday night, and the power behind the Pride’s success was a seemingly unstoppable rushing attack.
Bradshaw Christian doesn’t overwhelm anybody with numbers. There’s just 19 kids on the varsity roster. That isn’t even enough players to practice with a full offense vs. a full defense.
“We practice with our JV team, they come and help us,” coach Drew Rickert said.
While some would see this as a hindrance, Rickert says it’s quite the opposite.
“It helps them a ton,” he said. “The JV team gets beat up a little bit, but then they take it into the game and they know how to play. It’s helped our JV program because we do this every year.”
With the JV team being prepared this way, those players already know what kind of physicality to expect at the varsity level. With the frequency at which the Pride runs the ball, there is no escaping that physicality.
Through the first first five games of the season, the Pride has thrown the ball less than 25 times; they have run the ball over 200 times, totaling almost 2,000 rushing yards and over 20 rushing touchdowns. Although the bulk of the runs come from senior running back Anthony Tornatore, more than eight players share the touches. Tornatore leads them with 131.8 rushing yards a game entering Friday night’s tilt.
When asked how he handles sharing the workload Tornatore said, “It’s all cool. We split the carries, but I love seeing my brothers eat. At the end of the day it’s a team effort, I love it.”
Tornatore isn’t the only player showing love for his teammates. Their camaraderie was almost palpable after Friday’s win.
“I think us being a smaller team we get a better chance to know each other and come together,” said senior running back Noah Darchuk. “It really makes us a brotherhood and I really appreciate everybody that is on my team.”
In a sport like football, a team’s mentality can pick up the slack if they are missing something. In Bradshaw Christian’s case, it’s depth.
Still, Bradshaw Christian has shown this season that it has heart and will play aggressively. It takes a strong will to pound the ball up the middle all game. And don’t forget the Pride’s defense, which has allowed just 45 points in five games this season. Bradshaw Christian didn’t allow Ygnacio Valley’s offense to get anything of consequence started Friday night.
Next week, the Pride will look to stay undefeated as they travel to Placerville to take on El Dorado on Friday.