Happy hump day folks. With week 8 football in t-minus two days, we’re bringing you a couple of standout prospects whos middle names are ‘production’ and consistently, without fail, come in clutch for their respected programs as game-shifting playmakers. For the middle of your week, I’m opening up with star-studded running back and North Dakota State commit (247sports), Dominic Gonnella.
In seven games played per MaxPreps, Gonnella has rushed for 514 yards on 63 carries, 7 receptions for 89 yards with a touchdown courtesy of his mitts, blocked a game-tying field goal verse Plant City in week 6 (the Bulls won 37-34 in OT), 13 total tackles (4 solo) and has collected 9 rush TDs and counting. His top performance on the season behind his Kathleen showcase arose in the very first game of the season in a 28-13 W over Newsome. The senior brute force ran for 170 yards on just 11 carries, with an 80-yard long run and three endzone finds.
Dominic’s rushing-style encompasses north, south, east, and west directional capabilities- whenever he breaks out of that hole, he has an undeniable ability to run circles around defenses with that next-level speed and tackle-shedding. At 5’11” 194 pounds, the baller who also shows out on the baseball diamond for Bloomingdale (16-9 overall so far, ranking 48th in Florida) is a choir to tackle on the gridiron as hard-nosed, pads low runner; a handful of the jersey isn’t gonna cut it. If you don’t get a full wrap on this guy, get ready for the next play because all you’ll see is that number 25 stampeding his way across the pylons.
The Bulls of Bloomingdale have truly lit a fire under themselves, bouncing back from the previous rebuild stage with a vengeance (averaged 4.3 wins a season from 2009-2017, 11-2 wildcard 6-seed in 2018). Nothing has come easy and their schedule certainly hasn’t been ‘light work’ by any means, but alas, the boys in the red, black, and white are 6-1 on the season thus far as the 25th ranked team in the state and are 1-0 in their district 7 standings.
The Bloomingdale Bulls (6-1) will come face-to-face with their tallest task yet, as they battle the reigning 7A State Champs, the Lakeland Dreadnaughts (8-0), this Friday at 7:30 p.m on their home turf.
Vaughan Sixbury, BCP Contributor