After allowing just 14 yards on the ground against Broughton to open the season, the Imps’ defense shut down a Cardinal Gibbons offense that put up 40 points in its opener en route to a 19-0 win over the host Crusaders on Friday night.

Cary’s defense was stifling from the get-go, holding Cardinal Gibbons to 25 yards rushing on 20 carries in the first half.

“Cardinal Gibbons is a good football team,” Imps coach Ben Kolstad said. “We had to find our way tonight a little bit, but when we did we were tough. All week we talked about being persistent with our pressure, and we did that.”

Cary quarterback Connor Chase hit wideout Jamal Chase in the end zone with 1:29 left in the first quarter. Chase ran a 10-yard out and settled just underneath the Cardinal Gibbons’ defensive backfield for the score to make it 6-0 Imps.

Cary pushed its lead to 12 at the 8:29 mark of the second quarter on a Chase to Chuboy Umeadi 78-yard score down the right sideline.

The Imps added a third quarter Marquise Sherrod-Cooper 8-yard touchdown run to make it 19-0 and put the game away.

“I’ll always take 2-0,” Kolstad said. “And we were better this week (than last week). We did turn the ball, but it didn’t hurt us. Our defense came in and put out the fire any time they needed to.”