By Don Ketchum

The player wearing jersey No. 3 figured to touch the ball a lot on Saturday night (Aug. 20) and lead his team to victory, and that’s what he did.

But it wasn’t Scottsdale Chaparral star receiver Davonte Neal. It was Bishop Gorman running back Shaquille Powell.

The 5-foot-10, 195-pound senior for the team from Las Vegas rushed for 300 yards and five touchdowns and caught three passes for 34 yards, including a 30-yard TD, to spark a 42-22 victory over Chaparral in the second game of a Sollenberger Classic double-header at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale.

The win by Bishop Gorman, last year’s Class 4A champ in Nevada, wrapped up a sweep over Arizona teams. Moapa Valley, Nev., defeated Show Low 28-26 in Saturday’s opener. Bishop Gorman lost to Chandler Hamilton in last year’s Sollenberger Classic.

Powell finished with 300 yards on 30 carries, including 245 yards in the second half against Chaparral, winner of the last two Class 5A Division II championships. He also had an interception with 4:12 left in the game.

Neal, meanwhile, The Arizona Republic’s Big School Player of the Year as a junior in 2010, caught an 82-yard scoring pass from Connor Brewer with 2:12 left in the game as well as the two-point conversion, but it was too little, too late.

He finished with three catches for 83 yards and carried the ball twice for 10 yards.

Neal is one of the nation’s top recruits. Powell hasn’t received that much attention, due mainly to his lack of height, but figures to have more recruiters contact him if he can have similar efforts to this one. Among his suitors are Northern Arizona and Illinois.

“He weighs nearly 200 pounds, so that kind of answers physical questions,’’ Bishop Gorman coach Tony Sanchez recently told the Las Vegas Sun. “He’s a guy who always played much bigger than he is. If he was 6-2, he would be going (to college) wherever he wants.’’

Powell’s TD reception gave Bishop Gorman the early lead on the team’s first possession, just two minutes into the game.

Chaparral responded with a 1-yard scoring toss from Connor Brewer to fullback Cody Ippolito with 25 seconds left in the first period, and took a 14-7 lead on a 29-yard pass from Brewer to running back Zach Skeen with 2:12 left in the first half

Bishop Gorman appeared to tie it with 1:19 left on a 60-yard pass from Solomon to Ryan Smith, but it was called back because of a personal-foul penalty. Bishop Gorman never got close again the rest of the half.

Chaparral starting running back Lucas Petrullo appeared to injure an ankle early in the game and was taken off the field on a golf cart late in the first half. His status for next week and beyond is uncertain.

Chaparral opens the Arizona portion of its schedule next Friday (Aug. 26) at Tucson Salpointe Catholic.