Dice Lifts Alemany to Win Over Chaminade

Without Terry Barnum in the backfield for most of Friday night, Alemany High rolled the Dice and came up a winner anyway.

Barnum, hobbled by a bruised right ankle, carried the ball just six times against Chaminade, but his 35-yard touchdown pass to Richard Dice on an option was the big play in the Indians’ 13-3 Mission League victory.

Alemany (4-2, 2-1 in league play) trailed, 3-0, entering the third period and had been unable to mount much offense.

But Dice returned a punt 24 yards to the Chaminade 35 as the fourth period got under way. On the next play, Barnum took a handoff from quarterback Adam Romandi and broke to the outside. Suddenly, Barnum pulled up and lofted a pass to Dice along the sidelines.

The defender, Mike Sweeney, slipped and Dice caught the ball at the 13, then raced for the end zone, extending the ball and touching the marker with it as he was knocked out of bounds. The official hesitated, then ruled the play a touchdown.

“I didn’t know the guy fell behind me,” Dice said. “I turned around and broke outside. I saw the pursuit coming and I just dove and swung the ball at the pylon.”

Brian Plasky, a former Chaminade student, added the kick and Alemany had a 7-3 lead with 10 minutes 50 seconds to play.

Chaminade (5-1, 2-1), which held Alemany to 60 yards total offense in the first half, couldn’t mount a comeback and Dice, filling in at running back because of Barnum’s injury, scored on a 15-yard run in the final minutes to put the game out of reach.

Chaminade, playing without three injured offensive linemen, rushed for 23 yards in the second half and had just 37 yards overall in the second half.

Without Barnum, Alemany was unable to muster a ground attack and had just eight yards rushing in the first half.

Romandi accounted for the bulk of Alemany’s first-half offense, completing five of 10 passes for 52 yards. Romandi finished 11 of 22 for 130 yards and a touchdown. Dice had six receptions for 96 yards.

Chaminade quarterback Travis Hall had a big first half, completing eight of 15 passes for 116 yards. He finished 12 of 25 for 140 yards with an interception.

The Eagles scored the only points of the first half on Ted Corcoran’s 34-yard field goal in the second period.