It was rivalry week Thursday, Sept. 14 against who many refer to as “the team in Henderson,” Liberty High School.

The Gaels came out on top with a 49-6 win, another strong offensive performance.
Keeping the momentum going, the Bishop Gorman offensive unit starts with its big guys up front, the offensive line. In the middle of it all, Alai Kalaniuvalu ‘25 has been leading the way with his domination of the center position, and just in his first season in Las Vegas, since Kalaniuvalu transferred from Utah last Winter.

Experiencing his first rivalry game, Kalaniuvalu stated, “overall we performed well as a unit.” He continued, “we needed to make sure our run game continued to flourish and we did a great job up front creating lanes for our running backs. Now that we move to our in-state schedule, we must keep our energy high while performing at a high level.”

On the opposite side of the ball, the Gaels defense came up big holding the Patriots to just six total points, their best defensive showing thus far. MaxPreps Player of the Game and former Liberty High School student-athlete, Champ Kapanui ‘25 fully embraced this game against his old squad. Kapanui racked up six tackles, three tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, and a quarterback pressure under the Thursday night lights.

Ecstatic with the outcome, Kapanui stated, “I just had to treat it like a normal game and not let my emotions get the best of me.” He continued, “I needed to focus on my job and when the opportunity came, I had to do my part and execute.”

With a possibility to meet again in this year’s playoff run, the Gaels hope for the same result in a future meeting. However, their mindset remains focused on the task at hand each week, despite a national and state championship goal in mind.