Gilmer 36, Pittsburg 25
By Elwyn Henderson
After having last Friday night off for the team’s open week before District 7-4A DII action kicked off this week the 1-4 Gilmer Buckeyes returned to the friendly confines of Jeff Traylor Stadium in Gilmer to take on the 4-1 Pittsburg Pirates in a big game for both programs.
As Coach Alan Metzel says every year and brought up once again at Wednesday’s Lunch with the Coach at Gilmer Country Club, what happened in pre-district doesn’t matter at this point because everyone resets to 0-0 going into district action.
The Pirates came into the game flying high as a kite and feeling that they would most definitely walk off the field with a victory over a Buckeyes team they almost certainly felt was inferior to their squad.
The Buckeyes on the other hand knew they had played a “murderer’s row” schedule in non-district while the Pirates had played a lot of lesser-talented teams. The Bucks went into the game setting out to prove that they would still be a team to be reckoned with and they knew that would be easier with 6-8 starters returning from various injuries.
When the fourth quarter clock expired the Buckeyes had made a statement to the teams in the district that they would be a force and a team that couldn’t be overlooked, as they walked off with a convincing 36-25 win over Pittsburg.
Prior to kickoff Pittsburg won the coin toss and elected to defer to the second half to get the contest underway.
Alan Ramirez kicked off from his 40 out of the end zone and the Buckeyes began their first possession at their 25.
On the first play of the game Zade Taylor was intercepted at the Gilmer 25 by NaKaidrien Chalmers who returned the ball down to the 18 where Kord Johnson brought the Pirates offense out for the first time.
The Black Flag defense forced a 4th down field goal try by Ramirez but Trey Lee blocked the kick and Gilmer went back on offense at their 30.
The offense moved down to the Pitt 44 and turned the over on downs at that point and the Pirates were back in business again.
It took just 3 plays and 58 seconds for the visitors to get into the end zone. The TD came on a 43-yard pass from Johnson to Cam Doddy with 7:16 left in the first quarter. Ramirez booted the PAT and Pittsburg led 7-0.
Following a touchback and a 5-yard penalty against Pittsburg for being off sides Gilmer set up at their 30 for their next possession.
Taylor got the offense going on a 13-ply, 70-yard drive that took 4:22 off the clock and ended when Taylor hit Solomon Jackson on a 6-yard TD pass with 2:54 left in the first quarter. Miguel Castaneda added the extra point and the game was tied 7-7.
The Pirates returned the ensuing kickoff down to the Gilmer 34 but he Black Flag forced a turnover on downs at the Gilmer 22 and the Buckeyes took back over with 1:08 left in the quarter.
It was a quick three-and-out and after a punt the Pirates took over on their 23. On the second play of the possession Christopher Pinkney intercepted a Pitt pass at the visitors’ 35 and Gilmer was back in business.
After picking up one first down on 4th down on the next series Taylor’s pass was intercepted in the end zone by Kevin Johnson and the Pirates went back on the offensive.
It looked as though the Bucks had forced a three-and-out but the defense was called for hands to the face and 15 yards was marched off and the Pirates drive continued. The Black Flag forced a punt on the next possession and Taylor and company were back in business again.
Taylor led his unit down the field and faced a 4th and 2 and Tayveon Horne picked up a first down at the 4 and he scored on a 4-yard run with 34 seconds left until halftime. Castaneda added the extra point and Gilmer led 14-7. The drive was 11 plays, 66 yards and consumed 5:39 off the clock.
After a fair catch of the ensuing kickoff resulted in Pitt getting the ball at their 34, Johnson took a knee out of victory formation and the half ended with the Buckeyes on top 14-7 and Pittsburg set to receive the second half kickoff.
Castaneda kicked off to begin the second half and a pooch kick was returned from the Pitt 41 down to the Gilmer 2 by Doddy and then on the first play Johnson was hit on a “tush push” and fumbled the ball and Tyler Hagler picked up the ball and returned it into Pitt territory but a holding call put the ball back on the Gilmer 42.
The Buckeyes didn’t let the penalty bother them as they moved the 58 yards in 7 plays over 1:53 and got into the end zone on a 35-yard TD pass from Taylor to Trace Haynes. The Buckeyes garnered a 2-point conversion run by Horne and Gilmer led 22-7.
A pooch kickoff backfired as the ball was returned 70 yards down to the Gilmer 33. Gilmer was called for a 15-yard penalty on the sideline on the first play and on the next play Johnson threw a 19-yard TD pass to Seven Duffey with 9:13 left in the third stanza. The extra point was blocked but the Pirates trailed 22-13.
The Bucks began their next drive all the way back at their 2 and put together their best drive of the season, moving the 98 yards in 10 plays that took 5:03 off the clock. The score came on an 11-yard pass to Jackson with 4:09 left in the quarter. The extra point was good and Gilmer led 29-13.
After another great return by the visitors Pitt set up at midfield and the possession came down to a 4th and 12 at the Gilmer 15. A run went down to the 9 but was short of the line to gain and Gilmer took over on downs at their 9 with 41 seconds left in the quarter.
The Buckeyes picked up one first down and then Celson James was forced to punt the ball away on 4th down on the next series. The punt was downed at the Pitt 44 and Johnson brought his offense back on the field knowing they urgently need to get into the end zone.
The visitors came close but the Black Flag stopped Duffey just short of the goal line on 4th and there was a 15-yard personal foul on Coach John Huffstetler of Pittsburg and Gilmer started their next drive at their 15.
It was a quick three-and-out and the James punt was returned 52 yards for a TD with 4:18 left in the game. A bad snap on the 2-point extra point resulted in the try being no good.
The Pirates, as expected, kicked onside and the ball went out of bounds and after a 5-yard mark off the Buckeyes set up on their 49.
Taylor led the offense on a 3-play, 51-yard drive that took just 54 seconds off the fourth quarter clock. The score came when Taylor ran in from the 2 with 3:24 left in the game. The extra point was good and Gilmer officially closed the door on any chance for Pittsburg to grab the victory.
The next kickoff was returned to the 23 but an illegal block against Pirates moved the ball back to the 13.
To the Pirates credit the moved the ball like a score would give them the win. They moved the 87 yards in 1:10 and took just 6 plays to find the end zone. Johnson scored from the 1 with 1:54 left in the game. A try for 2 by Johnson was no good and Gilmer’s lead was 36-25.
Another onside kick off came as expected and Jackson caught the ball at the Gilmer 46 and returned it down to the Pirates 40 with 1:51 left in the game and the visitors were out of timeouts. Taylor took a knee from victory formation for 3 consecutive plays and the clock expired, moving the Buckeyes to 2-4 on the season but most importantly 1-0 in district. The loss sent Pitt’s record to 4-2 on the season and 0-1 in district play.
When we visited with Coach Alan Metzel after the game we asked him if it didn’t feel a whole lot better getting back on the winning track.
“It feels so much better. I’m so proud of the kids who have gone through so much adversity this year. They had to fight uphill in so many ways and to come back and have the two weeks of practice that they’ve had, is really good. We’ve got tons to fix; we get that, but the ability to come back after adversity in a game, we did that tonight over and over and over. Some of it was self-inflicted but we battled out of it and I’m so proud of them.”
Next we asked how much confidence the big win gives the team going on the road to Van next week during the Yamboree.
“(It gives them) tons. It’s just that winning breeds winning and we’ll take that step and we’ll have to take another step to go get after Van. We realize that they’re a very, very good team and well-coached and we’re playing in Van. There’s all that and we’ll start worrying about that tomorrow.”
Trace Haynes had a tremendous second half receiving the ball from Zade Taylor and we asked Coach Metzel his thoughts on his performance.
“Wow, you know, and in pressure situations. He’s had moments this year where he’s been coming on but tonight he made a statement that he’s ready to play and that he’s ready to make big plays in big moments. Zade just did a good job of giving him a chance and when you’re long and can run like he can then when you give a guy like that a chance good things happen.”
We also wanted to know what getting a number of injured players back on the field for the game did for the team and the coach responded, “Well, you know, we had some key guys like we talked about the last several weeks in spots that you just had to get back. Some of those guys are coming back; the defensive line, now you can have a rotation where when (Tyler Hagler) Hag takes the ball out of the guy’s hands and runs 50 yards, well he needs about 2 or 3 plays off. Then you’ve got to have people that can come in and not have a drop off and we had that tonight. That was huge. I thought the defensive line, they were phenomenal tonight. They just put up a wall so many times so it’s really good to get those kids back.”
Then we asked the coach if he felt the team sent a message to rest of the district that the Buckeyes aren’t done yet.
“Correct, correct, and you know as much as anything right now we’re sending a statement to ourselves. I think that’s most important. We’ll deal with the teams when we play but we always talk about our toughest opponent is ourselves. Tonight we were able to overcome ourselves and go get a ‘W’ and next week we’ll strap it up and start getting ready for Van.”
There was obviously a lot of good that came out of the game but we had to ask the coach about his concern about the play of the special teams in the contest and he replied as you would expect a great coach to do.
“Yeah, there were multiple mishaps. I’m not going to get into specifics because I don’t want to talk about individuals but there are things that we are going to have to do. We may have to make some moves then we’ve got to add some things to make sure people are on the same page on what scheme is being called and those kinds of things. Obviously, you can’t give the other team the ball on the other side of the 50 every time and expect to come out a winner. It puts too much pressure on your defense, so we know.”
We finished up asking Coach Metzel for any final thoughts he had to pass on to the fans.
“You know, I’m excited for our kids. I’m excited for our town. We’ve got so many people that just hang in there and they eat, live and sleep Gilmer Buckeye Football. We want to be the catalyst for this town that gets everybody going and feeling good and so forth and we took a step in that direction tonight.”
Next week will be another battle but if the team continues to get injured players back on the field and continues to grow and improve each day they will be very competitive against the Van Vandals next Friday night and will have an opportunity to win the game and go to 2-0 in district. This season is far from over and the Buckeyes showed against the Pirates that they are giving everything they have to end up with a successful 2025 season. Make sure to stay behind the team and encourage any player you come in contact with.
