Cafe Rio Game Night Live players of the game: Bishop Gorman's Tamatoa Gaoteote, Brayley Manning

HIGHLAND —Bishop Gorman is unlikely many other high school football teams in the western United States, with a national schedule and national goals.

One week, the Gaels were in Florida taking on a top team in Christopher Columbus High School, and a week later they were flying to Utah to face regular Beehive State power Lone Peak.

That's exactly what Brayley Manning wanted.

"It's different," Manning told KSL's Game Night Live after a 38-14 win over the Knights, when he was named Cafe Rio co-player of the game. "But I love it; I came to Gorman for one thing, and that's to prove that I can ball. It's definitely what I wanted to do when I came here."

Manning, the four-star cornerback by 247Sports with interest from Arizona, Cal and Georgia, among others, and the Gaels (3-1) put on a defensive clinic Friday night, holding the Knights (2-2) to 7 points before a late touchdown in the fourth quarter for the final margin. Bishop Gorman picked off Lone Peak quarterback Cruz Christensen twice, held leading rusher Ayden Laws to 21 yards on eight carries, and cashed in another turnover for a touchdown on a fumble recovery.

But for linebacker Tamatoa Gaoteote, who had four tackles, a tackle for loss, and a sack to share Cafe Rio co-player of the game honors with Manning, it all started up front.

Even with his fumble recovery that he took for six.

"My defensive end came right off the edge, got their hand on the ball, his twin got a block and allowed me to score," said Gaoteote, who has offers from Hawaii, Colorado State, Washington State and Nevada, among others. "I appreciate them; we've got great defensive linemen, and we've just got to execute it."

The win helped Bishop Gorman bounce back from a 33-28 loss to Columbus in Miami before turning attention to a west-coast showdown with Mater Dei in southern California next Friday, Sept. 18.

"Lone Peak is a great team, well coached, and a hard-playing team," Gaoteote said. "We appreciate lining up against them, because they are a great team."

Lone Peak hosts Timpview on Friday night at 7 p.m. MT.

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