Lindale 35, Gilmer 23
By Elwyn Henderson
The 1-2 Gilmer Buckeyes returned to Jeff Traylor Stadium in Gilmer Friday night for the school’s annual Homecoming game where they entertained the Lindale Eagles. The Buckeyes were hoping to show their fans that last Friday’s blowout loss to Kilgore was just a freak thing and that they had corrected a lot of the mistakes from last week and got the ship righted. They did just that as the final score of the game was with the coming out on top. The Bucks still have work to do but the dramatic improvement from last week showed the coaches, the team and the Army of Buckeyes that there is still plenty of time left this season to accomplish their goals.
Lindale chose to defer to the second to begin the game after winning the coin toss. Camden Lane kicked off to the Gilmer 29 and the Buckeyes set up on offense for the first time.
Zade Taylor led the Bucks the 71 yards into the end zone in 7 plays that took 3:02 off the clock. The score came on a beautiful 37-yard TD pass to Trace Haynes with 8:58 left in the first quarter. Miguel Castaneda added the PAT and Gilmer led 7-0.
Castaneda’s kickoff went out of the end zone for a touchback and Lindale set up for their first possession of the night at their 25.
David Lindig brought his charges out. After getting two first downs the Black Flag Defense forced a punt from the Buckeye 45 down to the 13 where it went out of bounds and Taylor led the Gilmer offense back on the field.
The offense moved down to the Eagle 20 and on 4th down a 36-yard field goal attempt by Castaneda was short due to a low snap that was to the side of the holder and Lindale took over on their 20.
Lindale got on the board with 10:24 left in the first half when Hank Thurman ran into the end zone from the 1, capping off a 6-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 2:07. Elijah Pollard added the extra point and the game was tied 7-7.
The Buckeyes went three-and-out and after a 45-yard Celson James punt the Eagles set up for their next possession on their 28.
Lindig led his charges the 72 yards into the end zone for the second Lindale TD in 9 plays over 5:29. The score came on a 29-yard TD run by Thurman with 3:00 left in the half, putting the Eagles up 14-7.
Gilmer set up on their 19 on their next possession. Taylor led the offense down to the Lindale 3 and on 4th down Castaneda nailed a 23-yard field goal with 17 seconds left in the half, bringing the score to 14-10.
After a pooch kick and the return Lindale set up on their 49 with 11 seconds left in the half. The Eagles ran two plays including a hook-and-lateral on the last play and the half ended with the Bucks trailing 14-10.
Castaneda kicked off to begin the second half and the kick was returned up to the 35 where Lindig brought his unit out for their first possession of the second half. The Black Flag forced a three-and-out. A 40-yard punt set Gilmer up on their 30 for their first possession of the half.
Taylor and the offense took just 1:02 and 3 plays for the Buckeyes to find the end zone for the second time in the game. The score came on a 56-yard pass from Taylor to Trace Haynes with 9:12 left in the third quarter. Castaneda’s extra point kick was good and Gilmer led 17-14.
The ensuing kickoff was returned Eagle 43 and Lindig and his group hit the field again and it took just 4 plays and 1:17 for the visitors to take the lead back. The score came on a 5-yard TD run by Thurman, his third of the game. The PAT was good and Lindale led 21-17 with 7:55 left in the third quarter.
The kickoff was onside and Lindale recovered at the Gilmer 44 but fortunately for the Bucks, the Eagles were off sides on the kickoff and a re-kick moved the ball back to the 35. The next kick went through the hands of the Gilmer returner. He recovered at the goal line but fumbled the ball at the 18 and Lindale recovered and took over at that point.
Lindig got his team in the end zone again as Thurman rang up his fourth TD of the game with a 5-yard run with 7:17 left in the third quarter. The extra point was good and the Eagles led 28-17.
Gilmer went three-and-out and Lindale set up on their 31 after an amazing 34-yard punt by James after a bad snap. The Black Flag forced a punt but the Bucks were downed at their 3 on the return out of the end zone.
After picking up one first down Gilmer was forced to punt again. The James punt went to the Gilmer 45 and the visitors were back on the offensive again.
Lindig led his unit to the end zone again, going the 55 yards in 7 plays and taking 3:38 off the fourth quarter clock. The score came on a 1-yard TD by Thurman, his fifth of the game. The extra point was good and the Buckeyes found themselves in a 35-17 hole.
Another onside kick was recovered by Gilmer at their 34 and Taylor brought the offense back on the field. The team managed to get down to the Lindale 15 but a 4th down pass was 1-yard short and the ball turned over on downs at that point.
The defense forced a three-and-out and after a punt Taylor brought the offense back at their 48.
It took just 11 seconds and 1 plays for the Buckeyes to find the end zone. Taylor hit Jackson on a 52-yard TD pass with 2:14 left in the game. A try for 2 was no good, making the score 35-23.
An onside kick was recovered b Lindale at their 46 and Lindig and his teammates hit the field one last time. They moved down to the 20 and went in victory formation two times and the game ended with the visitors taking the 35-23 win.
When we talked with Buckeye Coach Alan Metzel after the game and began by asking his thoughts on the game.
“Well, I’ll start from last week till now. To overcome the hole that we dug for ourselves mentally and emotionally, that was impressive. I’ll say that the captains and the guys showing up Monday ready to practice and they really put in a good week and so I can’t compliment their character enough, so there’s that. And you saw the fight; the attack in the game and what you also see are the numerous things that some of our youth, some of the lack of being the person that’s in the heat of the battle. Sometimes you have to go ok, next time this happens this is how we do it. There’s a learning curve that we’re going through right now and that’s painful, you know. Our kickoff return unit tonight, we’ve got to shore up a number of things there. We made mistakes on several plays decision making; where we are on a punt return when I’m on the 10 and fielding the ball and stuff like that. Those are things in situational football that we’ve got to mature in and obviously we’re not there yet. So we’ve got to go back to work and coach hard and be receptive to learning and take another step.”
Next we brought up the point that no one quit in the game and Coach Metzel said, “No, we fought to the end, all the way to the last play and so I’m very proud. Like I said, the character aspect, especially from where we came from, that was herculean to handle that emotional drain and to come out and lay it all on the line. That was done and that’s significant. Now we’ve got to get better. Now we’ve got to tighten up to beat quality teams and we’ll play another one next week; just a 5A Division II that’s coming in undefeated. You know, when you’re playing teams like this, these miscues, these bad decisions, the cost you and they cost you the game. That series of seconds really took it, you know. Now I’ll say this; we fought back, we scored and had the onside kick in our hands and just didn’t get it. I love the battle, I love the fight, I love that they kept pushing. It’s a game where we have to make plays, it is. We made some tonight and we’ve got to take that up another notch next week.”
We then asked the coach if he agreed the team did get some confidence back after rebounding from the Kilgore walloping.
“No doubt, no doubt; in every area even with the miscues we had. I think they can go “Ok, we’re not what happened Friday (Kilgore game) and we can set that aside. That’s where our floor is now let’s continue to build; let’s move up that mountain.’ The focus we’ve got to have right now is we’ve got to get to district. We’ve got to be a competitive team. We’ve got to get to 0-0 but we’ve got to be much better by then. We’ve got tons of work to do and we’re going to stay at it.”
We also brought up the fact that next week will almost be like a home game since the team plays Brenham at Lobo Stadium in Longview and the coach said, “We go to Lobo. We’ve played there a number of times and we’ve played well in Lobo, so no doubt. I’m excited for the kids to be able to play there and you don’t have to drive to Huntsville so we’ll have a regular weekly agenda instead of being on that bus 3 hours. They can deal with that part this year. Hopefully, we’ll take several more steps; create a turnover or two more; hold onto it a time or two more and try and tip that thing in our favor next week.”
We concluded by asking Coach Metzel for his final thoughts and he replied, “I love our town. It’s been a tough week, you know, and people have opinions and all those kind of things, but you know what? I love our town and the reason that you have so much of the chatter is because so many people love Buckeye football and have high expectations and I get it. That goes with it and I’m looking forward to watching our guys, this team, in that building right over there (the field house) rally again, get better next week and make it where people can go, ‘You know, we’re so much better this week than we were last week.) That’s the goal and we’re going to go do it!”
It was disappointing to see so many empty orange seats for the Homecoming game. The Army of Buckeyes needs to stand behind this team and encourage them and show up at every game. Next week will be against a another very tough undefeated team but with continued improvement the Buckeyes WILL play a competitive game. Make sure you make the short drive to Longview and back the Bucks!