Chapel Hill 33, Gilmer 29

By Elwyn Henderson

The 0-1 Gilmer Buckeyes, ranked #5 in Class 4A DII after last week’s 22-15 loss to the Pine Tree Pirates, hit the road to Tyler for their first road game of the season, taking on the #3 Class 4A DI Chapel Hill Bulldogs who blasted Jasper on the road 56-20 in Week 1.

The football pundits installed the Bulldogs as a 13-point favorite going into the contest, but when the clock reached zeros in the fourth quarter to end the game, the Buckeyes left everything on the field and Chapel Hill took a 33-29 victory. With the win, they move to 2-0 on the year while Gilmer falls to 0-2 on the season.

Gilmer won the coin toss to begin the game and chose to receive.

Brady McCown led the offense down the field on a 10-play, 89-yard TD drive that took 4:56. Alec Sims finished it with a 1-yard TD run. The Buckeyes faked a PAT kick and Cadon Tennison hit Sims for a 2-point conversion, putting Gilmer up 8-0 with 7:04 left in the first quarter.

Brayden Pate kicked away and the Bulldogs set up for their first possession of the game at their 32.

Demetrius Brisbon led his team down the field and into the end zone with 2:30 left in the opening frame. The drive was 11 plays, 68 yards and took 4:34 off the first quarter clock. The PAT by Valencia was wide left, leaving the score 8-6 in favor of Gilmer.

Zade Taylor made a great 52-yard return of Valencia’s kickoff and Tennison came in at quarterback for the second Gilmer possession. On the fourth play of the possession Tennison attempted to hit Geramiah Noble on a deep pass. It looked as though Noble made the catch at the 2 but the pass was intercepted and the Bulldogs took over with 10 seconds left in the quarter.

The Bulldogs picked up two first downs and then the Black Flag Defense made a stop at the Bulldog 31 and forced a punt that was downed at the Gilmer 43. Unfortunately, a deep pass for Brendan Webb fell incomplete and Gilmer was forced to punt the ball away. The ball died at the CH 12.

On the first play of the possession, the Buckeyes missed a chance to drop Brisbon for a loss and he heaved an 88-yard pass and run for a TD to Stewart with 6:32 left in the half. The PAT by Valencia was good and the Bulldogs took a 13-8 lead. The drive a 1 play, 88 yards and took a mere 16 seconds.

Gilmer set up on their 37 following the ensuing kick. On the second play of the possession a tipped pass by the intended receiver was intercepted by Peaira Allen at the Gilmer 38 with 6:12 left in the half.

The Black Flag forced a 36-yard field goal on 4th down of the second series. The kick was blocked and returned to the Chapel Hill 34 by Trillyon Butler and the Buckeyes went back on offense.

McCown led the offense into the end zone in just 3 plays and 22 seconds. The score came on a 25-yard TD pass to Webb with 3:05 left in the half. Pate nailed the PAT and Gilmer led 15-13.

Following the kickoff and a fair catch, the Bulldogs set up shop at their 30. The Black Flag forced three consecutive incomplete passes and the home team punted away from their 30. The punt was blasted 63 yards with the roll down to the Gilmer 7 where McCown and the offense went to work for the final time of the first half.

McCown led the offense down the field, connecting on a 22-yard pass to Zade Taylor and then lateraling to Tennison who tossed a 31-yard pass to Sims down to the CH 17. It looked like the Buckeyes would extend their lead going into the locker room, but a 36-yard field goal attempt by Pate sailed wide left with 5 seconds left in the half. As it turned out, the Bulldogs were called for being off sides, giving Pate another opportunity from 33 yards out. Unfortunately, the second kick was just left and the half ended with Gilmer leading 15-13.

The Buckeyes kicked off to begin the second half of play. Pate’s kick was returned to the Bulldog 25 where Brisbon and his unit hit the field for the first time in the half.

The hosts moved the 55 yards to pay dirt in 6 plays and took 1:53 off the third quarter clock. The drive ended with a 31-yard TD pass from Brisbon to Brooks with 10:07 left in the quarter. The PAT was blocked, but CH took a 19-15 lead.

Valencia’s kickoff was returned up to the Gilmer 45 and McCown led the offense on the field. Gilmer moved down to the Bulldog 17, but consecutive 10 and 15-yard penalties moved the Bucks back in the wrong direction. Another 10-yard penalty moved the ball back to the Gilmer 46 and Pate had to punt the ball away. The kick traveled 52 yards down to the Bulldog 2.

Noble garnered a pick-6 off Brisbon from just outside the CH 14 with 2:47 left in the quarter. Pate made the extra point and Gilmer led 22-19.

The Buckeyes kicked off from the 25 because of a penalty against them on the PAT and  Tyrell Gause returned the ball down to the Gilmer 15. Two plays later Stewart ran in from the Gilmer 5 and with the PAT good, Chapel Hill recaptured the lead, 26-22.

The Bulldog defense forced a three-and-out on the next Gilmer possession, but the Bucks got a break as the punt was fumbled and Noble recovered at the Bulldog 17 with 1:46 left in the third quarter.

The offense struggled the first two downs, but on 3rd and 5 from the 12 McCown hit Webb in the back corner of the left side of the end zone for a Gilmer TD with 11:56 left in the game. Pate was true on the point after and Gilmer led 29-26.

A fair catch on the next kickoff set the Bulldogs up at their 36. Brisbon moved his team the 64 yards for another TD in 2:49. The drive was 9 plays. The score came on a 28-yard pass from Brisbon to Brooks with 9:08 left in the game. Valencia’s kick was good and the ‘Dogs went back up 33-29.

Following an out of bounds kickoff and a 5-yard penalty, McCown brought the offense out at the Buckeye 35. The Bulldogs forced a quick three-and-out and after a Pate punt, CH set up on their 32 with 7:42 remaining in the game.

Brisbon drove his team down to the Gilmer 9. A 27-yard field goal attempt resulted in a bad snap and Gilmer recovered on their 23 with 2:18 and down by 4.

The Bucks managed one first down and after three incomplete passes on the next series, they faced a 4th and 10 from the Gilmer 29, knowing the chance to win the game rested on one down. McCown hit Solomon Jackson for 26 yards keeping the Gilmer hopes alive. Once again, the Bucks faced a 4th down, this time needing 3 yards from the Chapel Hill 33 with 26 seconds left in the game. Once again, the offense came through. After clocking the ball, McCown hit Jackson down to the Bulldog 7. Just before Jackson made the catch with a defender all over him, the stadium lights went out with 6 seconds left in the game.

The officials talked to both coaches and then the referee ran off the field apparently to call someone in the Tyler Chapter to see whether the play would count or not. After a 5-minute delay, the referee came out and said the play would count, giving Gilmer one more chance to win the game. Brisbon intercepted McCown’s pass in the end zone, giving the Bulldogs the 33-29 win.

We talked with Coach Alan Metzel after the game to get his thoughts.

“(We were) Oh, so close. I thought we were going to catch it and win the game. (We showed) amazing resiliency by the team, you know. So many times we could have let up, and like you see, we block the field goal; stuff like that where they had us on the ropes, we fought, clawed and came back. We stopped them down there and make the drive here (the last possession of the game). I hurt for our guys because when you pour that much onto the field, it hurts to come away with an L. I’ll get philosophical next week, but right now we’re just hurting.”

We then asked the coach if he had ever seen anything as crazy as the lights going out on the next to the last play of the game and then what happened when the official left the field before coming back to announce despite the lights going out the play would stand.

“I think he pulled out the rule book! That’s what he said he was going to do, so whatever. It makes it weird, that’s all I can say. It gives you (Chapel Hill) time to catch their breath. You (the Buckeyes) have momentum, but it is what it is. All in all, they ended up making the play at the end and we didn’t, and there you go.”

We pointed out that the team was much-improved over last week and asked the coach if he would agree with my assessment that the team was 65% better than last week.

“I really do. I think the improvement from last week, think of the special teams. Our special teams dominated. We had the one they returned after we had the penalty. That hurt us, I’ll say that. Aside from that, we were stellar. I thought offensively we were better tonight. Defensively, if you’re able to bottle up those two guys (Brisbon and Stewart on offense) as much as we did; they’re so dang fast they just outrun you to the sideline and we just kept scrapping. I’m so proud of our guys. If we can continue to improve like that, we’re going to be tough to deal with.”

We also pointed out that Brady McCown made major strides with the offense in the game, and Coach Metzel responded, “He did, and look at all the plays Cadon made. You’ve got a unique talent in Cadon in that he can do so many things, and then you’ve got Brady who just keeps improving weekly. Those two guys are going to have to really lead us in the offense to get us up to where we’re really hitting on all cylinders.”

We mentioned that looking back to last year the team was 0-2 at this point and ended up going 13-3 and State Champions and that meant we are right on target to end up at AT&T Stadium again this year.

“You know, that’s what we’ll look at. We’ll talk about it next Monday and we’ll do it. We’ll look at Kilgore and we’ll go deal with Kilgore next week. If we improve like we did from last week to this week and this week to next week, we’ll be in pretty good shape.”

We finished our visit by asking the coach what he would like to add and he said, “It was electric tonight. This was an unbelievable Texas high school Friday Night Lights. It’s what is special about the job that we have. The kids are just amazing; I love watching people grow as men, as teammates, dealing with adversity. I love my town, I love the school and I love my team.”

We want to see all the Army of Buckeyes stand behind our team. We are improving daily and will continue to improve and the Legacy will be just fine this season. We will be back at Jeff Traylor Stadium for Homecoming Friday night to entertain the #5 team in Class 4A DI, the Kilgore Bulldogs in a 7:30 p.m. contest. The Army showed up better against Pine Tree in the opener than they have in recent games and we want to encourage you to do that again Friday night. Pack the home side out and continue to support these young men as they move the bar toward the ultimate goal of repeating as State Champions on Dec. 20 in Arlington.