Gilmer 37, Lindale 36

By Elwyn Henderson

The Gilmer Buckeyes, fresh off their 24-22 nail-biting victory over the Kilgore Bulldogs last Friday night, traveled to Lindale Friday night to take on the 2-1 Lindale Eagles in the first of three consecutive road games.
Building on their first win of the season last week, the Buckeyes continued to improve, and when the final seconds expired off the clock the teams were deadlocked 30-30 and headed to Overtime. When the dust cleared in the OT period, Gilmer walked off the field with a hard fought and well-earned 37-36 victory. The win evened the Buckeyes season record at 2-2, while the second loss in as many weeks dropped Lindale to 2-2.
Lindale won the pregame coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. Seth Baggett kicked the ball away into the end zone and Gilmer set up for their first possession of the night at their 25.
Brady McCown got the offense off to a quick start. The offense moved the ball down to the Eagle 32, falling 1yard short on 4th down and Lindale took over for their first possession of the game with David Lindig at quarterback.
The Black Flag defense forced a three-and-out and following a 46-yard punt by Baggett the Buckeyes were back on offense at their 19. The Eagles forced a three-and-out of their own and Pate kicked the ball from the Gilmer 24 to the Lindale 42, setting the Eagles back up on offense.
The teams both went three-and-out. Lindale’s next possession began at the Gilmer 49 following a 39-yard Pate punt.
The Eagles picked up one first down before the Black Flag forced a punt down to the Gilmer 10 where McCown brought his offensive unit back out. Thanks to an illegal man downfield on a 17-yard completion on a third down play, the ball went back to the Gilmer 4 and following an incomplete pass, the first quarter expired with a 0-0 score and the Bucks punted from their 4 on the first play of the second quarter. Pate’s punt traveled 57 yards down to the Lindale 39.
The Black Flag forced another three-and-out and Baggett nailed a 53-yard punt down to the Gilmer 7. McCown moved the team for one first down and then Cadon Tennison came in on a 3rd and 7 from the Gilmer 20. After a timeout, Zade Taylor came in as the Wildcat quarterback and took the snap. He picked up 5, forcing a Pate punt. A Lindale player ran into Pate, resulting in a Gilmer first down at their 30. After picking up one more first down, Pate punted down to the Eagle 20.
Lindig finally got his team on the scoreboard, taking a mere 25 seconds to move them the 80 yards to pay dirt in just 3 plays. He connected on passes of 12 and 31 yards before Caleb Hart ran 37 yards into the end zone with 5:04 left in the first half. Baggett added the PAT and Lindale led 7-0.
The Eagles score woke up the sleeping Buckeye offense. Starting from their 25 after a 13-yard return, McCown led the offense the 75 yards into the end zone in 6 plays over 2:11. The score came on a 12-yard pass to Brendan Webb with 2:53 left in the first half.
Following a fair catch of Pate’s ensuing kickoff Lindale got what should have been one last possession in the first half, starting at their 30. On the third play of the possession, Devin McDonald picked Lindig off for a 47-yard pick-6 TD with 2:14 left in the half. Pate’s extra point was good, and Gilmer took their first lead, 14-7.
Pate’s kickoff after the TD was returned from the Eagle 30 up to the 39 and Lindale set up on offense one more time before the half ended from that point. Lindig drove his unit downfield methodically, but the Black Flag came up big when they had to, forcing a 35-yard Baggett field goal with 18 seconds left in the half. The kick was good and the Gilmer lead was cut to 14-10.
Following a return to the Gilmer 20 of Baggett’s kickoff, McCown came in and took a knee at the 15, ending the first half of play.
Pate kicked off to the Eagles to begin the second half. The kick was received at the Eagle 15 and returned up to the 31 where Lindig brought his charges out for their first possession of the half.
After picking up one first down the Black Flag forced a punt that went into the end zone and McCown and company set up on their 20 for the first Gilmer possession of the half. After picking up 2 first downs to the Lindale 46, Pate punted the ball down to the Eagle 1.
The Black Flag defense swarmed the Eagles, forcing an intentional grounding in the end zone by Lindig, resulting in a safety for the Buckeyes, giving them a 16-10 lead with 6:19 left in the third quarter.
Following the safety, Baggett kicked a free kick from the Eagle 20 and Taylor returned the ball up to the Buckeye 38 and Tennison came in at quarterback. On the first play he ran around the right sideline for 30 yards and l5 lost the ball and Lindale recovered at their 30 with 6 minutes left in the quarter.
After giving up one first down, the Black Flag forced a Baggett punt that was fair caught by Webb at the Gilmer 15 where McCown brought the offense back on the field. On the first play there was a gain of 22 yards, but a holding call on the next play was more than the offense could overcome, forcing a punt that traveled down to the Lindale 39.
Lindig may have been slightly injured in the previous possession as Hart came in at quarterback. Hart carried the ball four straight plays, and the fourth quarter began with Lindale at the Gilmer 30, trailing by 6.
Hart carried the ball two more times, scoring from 1 yard out with 11:46 left in the game. There was a bad snap on the extra point, and the score was 16-16. The drive was 6 plays, 61 yards and took 2:20.
Webb returned the kickoff to the Gilmer 18, but on the first play of the possession, Taylor lost the ball and Lindale recovered on the Gilmer 16.
It took just 2 plays and 36 seconds for the Eagle to recapture the lead. The score came on an 11-yard run by Hart with 10:52 left in the game.
The next Baggett kick went out of bounds on the Gilmer 1 and after a 5-yard penalty, the Bucks set up shop at their 30.
McCown and the Buckeyes responded, just as they had previously, moving the 70 yards into the end zone in 5 plays over 1:43 with 9:09 left in the contest. The score came on a 49-yard TD run by Taylor. Pate nailed the extra point and the game was tied 23-23.
Lindale’s next drive began at their 26 after the kickoff. They managed one first down, but the Black Flag dropped them 1 yard short and Gilmer got the ball back, but they were flagged for a personal foul, moving the ball to the Gilmer 21.
On the third play of the possession, Butler was hit hard and lost the ball and Lindale recovered at the Gilmer 35.
Lindig led his team to one first down, and facing a 4th and 5 from the Gilmer 13, Baggett came on to kick a 30yard field goal. The kick was good, but Lindale was called for false start, forcing a 35-yard field goal attempt. The kick was wide right but the Buckeyes were called for a roughing the passer, giving the Eagles a first down at the Gilmer 9. Hart ran into the end zone for the TD with 2:42 left in the game. Baggett hit the extra point and Lindale led 30-23.
Gilmer got the ball at their 25 after a touchback and McCown led the offense into the end zone in 1:21 and 5 plays. The score came on a 4-yard Butler run with 1:21 left in the game. Pate was true on the extra point and the game was tied again, 30-30.
Pate’s ensuing kick was returned from the 1 up to the 30 where Lindig brought his charges back on the field to try to win the game.
The Black Flag gave up 2 yards in the first 2 plays, and facing a 3rd and 8, Gilmer called their second time out with 5 seconds left in regulation. The play resulted in a gain of 3, bringing up a 4th and 5 at the Lindale 35. The Eagles punted to the Gilmer 24 where McCown had 42 seconds to win the game in regulation. After 1 first down Lindale forced a punt on 4th down. Pate nailed a 64-yard punt into the end zone and the Eagles took a knee from their 20 as regulation play ended and we headed to OT.
Lindale won the toss and chose to start the OT on defense, and the Bucks began at the Eagle 25. Gilmer took 3 plays to move the 25 yards and score a TD. The score came on a 13-yard run by Taylor around left end. Pate hit the extra point and Gilmer took a 37-30-lead.
Hart brought his offense out to the Gilmer 25 needing a TD and an extra point to tie or a 2-point conversion to win the game.
The Black Flag held the Eagles to 5 yards on 2 plays before the Eagles were called for holding, moving the ball back to the Gilmer 31. Lindig came in and tossed a 31-yard TD pass to Jackson Parker over the middle, bringing the Eagles to within 1, at 37-36. The Eagles went for 2 and the pass by Lindig was intercepted by Khai Canady and Gilmer got the 37-36 win.
For the third game in a row, the winner was not determined until the final play of the game. Each week we’ve seen something weird happen on the final play, and they just keep getting crazier each week, it seems.
When we visited with Coach Alan Metzel on the field after the emotional victory, we asked his thoughts on having another crazy finish that gave the team their second win in as many weeks.
“Yeah, that’s pretty amazing. You know, we’ve talked about the schedule. We’ve talked about how good everybody is, and man it has lived up to its billing! It’s exposing us in many, many ways; we’re having to grow up. We have guys in positions where we’ve got to make plays and sometimes we do, and sometimes quite frankly, we aren’t. That makes us either get it figured out or go with another person. That’s part of the process. The think to summarize is you’ve got to play one play longer than the opponent, and our guys literally played one play longer than the opponent.”
We brought up the fact that Brady McCown made major improvement again this week in what is a complex offense to have to learn.
“Yeah, what a steep learning curve he’s had to tackle coming in, and we’ve had some injuries on the offensive line that has made the timing a little bit different. That’s been part of it too. Him getting on the same page with the receivers and all of that kind of stuff; there’s a learning curve and each week he’s taking steps and I thought he did again tonight. He was under a lot of pressure. They were after him pretty good and he was hanging in there, he was seeing people, he was moving. The line battled, man they just battled. The running backs and fullbacks were helping out; receivers, B(rendan) Webb made an amazing catch on 3rd and 7 and Cadon made an amazing catch on the out and got out of bounds. Guys were making plays to finish the game and that’s all you can ask.”
Next we asked the coach about the uncharacteristic number of turnovers the team had a particularly bad times in the game.
“No doubt; the turnovers is what put us in the bad position. We were playing field position; we were letting our defense be in charge of it, and then we went into that mode of dropping the ball and giving it to them. You know, three in the second half that I can think off the top of my head. When you’re in position to take command and then you hand them the ball back, you can’t do that against a good team. Obviously, we’ve got to get back to some of the ball security drills, we’ve got to get back to a focus of turnover-free and that’s got to be the emphasis for next week, absolutely.”
Then we brought up that even though there have been a number of injuries and in some cases third and fourth string players having to step up and play quite a bit that it will be invaluable when district and especially the playoffs come around.
“Absolutely, you’re going to have injuries moving forward somewhere. If you’re going to try and play deep into the playoffs, there’s going to be guys that will come back that have been out and there’ll be other guys that have dings and are hurt, and we are having to build depth. Guys are just being thrown into the fire and for the most part I’ve seen them step up. It doesn’t mean that they always make the play but they’re getting better. They’re getting to where they’re calloused that when they make the mistake they play the next play. That is critical and it also is teaching them that you never know when you’re the guy that’s got to go in, and I think that’s pretty important too.”
We then shifted to the OT period. We mentioned that you want to win the coin toss so you can go on defense first and know whether you need a TD or a field goal when you get the ball, but that since the Buckeyes scored in just 3 plays it worked out well for them. We asked if he thought like this writer did that IF the Eagles got into the end zone on their possession they would go for 2 and the win.
“Yeah, especially with the style they were playing. They had gone to the grinding it out. When we got in there and scored the pressure got put on, so yeah, I figured they probably would go for 2 right there.”
We asked Coach Metzel about the impact the Army of Buckeyes had on the game, and he replied, “Dude, it was so loud. At times you were having trouble communicating and so forth. They helped us at some strategic times when we needed them to rally and they did, and I think that’s just a testimony to the fans knowing that the Buckeyes are never out of a game.”
We concluded our interview asking if the Eagles had used Hart at quarterback on any of the video they watched, and he said, “They had done some of that early in Week 1. They brought in 11 (Jackson Legrow) and played it, so it’s not like we hadn’t seen that offense. Now 23 (Hart), he’s kind of their guy, so he’s a different guy that was running the same thing, and obviously, he kind of gave them a bit more of an edge. Kudos to them to have a Plan B, and it was effective.”
The Buckeyes will close out non-district play next Friday night when they travel to Huntsville to take on Class 5A DII Brenham who is 4-0 so far this season.