Unranked Don Bosco Prep not intimidated by No. 1 Bishop Gorman

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LAS VEGAS — Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.) legendary football coach Greg Toal had never been to Las Vegas. Not before Wednesday, when the team flew in two days before its showdown with national No. 1 Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas).

"It's going to be pretty exciting," he said Tuesday of the 7 p.m. Friday game. "Never been there before. We all want to get acclimated."

Toal has coached against a national No. 1 before — just last season — when his squad manhandled St. Thomas Aquinas (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) 24-7.

Aquinas, with athletes and playmakers all over the field, managed just four first downs. Don Bosco had traveled to Florida to defeat St. Thomas Aquinas, 20-10, two years earlier.

Toal's Ironmen also played arguably the nation's top program (certainly the most famous), De La Salle (Concord, Calif.) twice, winning in California 23-21 on a last-second field goal by future NFL placekicker Patrick Murray in 2008 before a 30-6 sledgehammer of a win in New Jersey the following season.

That's a 4-0 record against two of the most renowned programs in the country. Don Bosco has won its last seven games against out-of-state foes.

So no wonder that, despite a 4-2 record in 2015, the Ironmen are clearly not intimidated at facing this year's consensus top dog in high school football.

Gorman, 93-5 since 2009 and winner of six straight Nevada state titles, finished atop the MaxPreps Composite Rankings last season.

All is fantastic fodder for Don Bosco Prep, the mythical national champion in 2009 and 2011.

"It's a heck of a football team we're facing," Toal said. "Their quarterback (Tate Martell) is outstanding, as is their running back (Biaggio Walsh). Their slot guy (Tyjon Lindsey) is tremendous. They're really well balanced. There's a reason they're the No. 1 team in the country."

Last chance
Toal and the Ironmen are salivating with the opportunity to knock Gorman from its perch. With two losses, Don Bosco doesn't realistically have national title hopes.

This appears to be the Gaels' last legitimate shot to lose. They've already beaten nationally ranked or recognized programs such as Chandler (Ariz.), Bingham (South Jordan, Utah), Bellevue (Wash.), Long Beach Poly (Calif.) 52-13 and Servite (Anaheim, Calif.).

Since then they've crushed three Nevada opponents by a combined score of 202-21. They've won 32 straight games overall.

"I'm really happy with how we've played," said first-year Gorman head coach Kenny Sanchez, who took over for his brother Tony Sanchez (now the head coach at UNLV). "These guys have done everything we've asked and taken care of business. The offense has clicked. The defense has been outstanding."

Sanchez, the team's defensive coordinator for the previous six seasons, knows exactly what he's facing on Friday. Gorman has been around the national circuit and has faced the tough and physical New Jersey style, splitting two games with Bosco rival Bergen Catholic (Oradell, N.J.). Gorman won in New Jersey, 20-17, in 2013 a season after losing at home, 42-35.

Then again, Don Bosco Prep and Toal bring another level of intensity.

Toal has been compared to Bobby Knight and Al Pacino's character from "Any Given Sunday." His passion is revealed in every pregame speech (shown here), ingrained in every player and echoed in this statement from former Bosco All-State quarterback Steve Levy:

"(Bosco) wins the game up front with aggressive play," he told MaxPreps in 2008. "If you're soft you're not playing for Bosco. Coach Toal always talks about tough guys, that we're tough Ironmen from Jersey. We'll take you in an alley and keep on you like dogs for four quarters."

Mini Manziel, Muhammad Ali's grandson
Containing Martell, a 5-foot-11, 190-pound Johnny Manziel-type playmaker, is Bosco's No. 1 objective defensively. The five-star junior, who has already committed to Texas A&M, has thrown for 3,867 yards, 56 touchdowns and just six interceptions in 23 games at Gorman.

"He's a nightmare," Toal said. "He's very difficult to deal with because he's extremely mobile and throws well on the run."

Walsh, the grandson of Muhammad Ali, is the fastest player on the team and he's rushed for 1,216 yards and 15 touchdowns on just 104 carries. Lindsay, a five-star receiver, has 22 catches for 532 yards and seven scores.

"We have to keep those guys off the field," Toal said. "That's why we have to have success running the ball."

That means Malik Bakker might need to carry as many as 30 times. He had three touchdowns last week in a 35-0 win over previously unbeaten Passaic County Tech (Wayne, N.J.).

"Coach Toal is old school," Sanchez said. "He loves to run the ball and play great defense. They don't miss tackles or assignments. They're extremely well coached."

Sanchez and his brother met Toal at a Nike coaches' clinic in Beaverton (Ore.) several years ago and have talked about a game. Toal said alums from both schools — mutual friends — got the game scheduled. Nothing has been set up past Friday's game.

"It might be one-and-done," Sanchez said. "It should be a good one."