Pleasant Grove 27, Gilmer 10
By Elwyn Henderson
The 5-2, 2-0 in District 7-4A DII Gilmer Buckeyes traveled to Texarkana Friday evening to take on the 5-2, 2-0 in district Pleasant Grove Hawks in a game that almost certainly determined the district championship. With Gilmer tossing Van aside last week Gilmer and PG were tied for the District lead and the winner moved into sole possession of first place with 2 games left before the end of the regular season.
It was expected to be a very tight game but when the smoke cleared, Pleasant Grove shocked the Buckeyes and the pundits who had predicted a Gilmer victory and walked off the field with a 27-10 victory in a game where the Bucks seemed off balance for much of the contest.
PG won the toss and elected to receive to begin the big game. Brayden Pate kicked off to the PG 4 and the ball was returned the up to the 29 where Jarret Halter brought his unit out for their first possession.
Halter led his team the 71 yards into the end zone for a touchdown in just 7 plays that covered 4:02. The score came on a 47-yard TD pass from Halter to Kam Harris with 7:58 left in the first quarter. Silas Yowell nailed the PAT and PG took an early 7-0 lead.
The Buckeyes took over on their 25 after a touchback on the Yowell kickoff and promptly went three-and-out. After a Pate punt PG went back on offense at their 36 for their second possession.
The Hawks were moving quickly toward the end zone when Brendan Webb intercepted Halter at the 9 and returned the ball up to the 25. Unfortunately, it was another three-and-out. Pate’s punt was downed at the Gilmer 45 and PG was on the move again.
Halter, aided by 15-yard pass interference against the Buckeyes, moved the Hawks into the end zone for second time. The score came on a 25-yard run by Nick Bells with 1:22 left in the first quarter. Yowell’s extra point was good and the Hawks led 14-0.
The Buckeyes suffered yet another three-and-out and after Pate’s punt PG set up on their 38 for their fourth possession of the night.
The Black Flag Defense forced a fumble and Gilmer recovered at the PG 39. Gilmer finally got on the board after a 6-play, 22-yard drive that took 1:40 off the clock. The score came on a 34-yard field goal by Pate with 8:20 left in the first half, making the score 14-3 in favor of the home team.
The next kickoff was returned up to the PG 35 and Halter and his troops went back on the battle field.
The Black Flag allowed 7 plays on the possession but a 4th down pass fell incomplete and the ball turned over on downs. Sadly, it was another three-and-out and Pate had to punt the ball away. The kick died at the PG 17 and Halter brought his offense back on the field.
The Black Flag did the job, giving up 31 yards in 8 plays and the half ended with an incomplete pass.
Gilmer received to begin the second half. Webb returned the ball to the Gilmer 17 where McCown brought the offense out. The drive started very positively with a 47-yard pass to Webb, but on the next series a 4th down pass fell incomplete and the ball turned over on downs to the Hawks with 10:41 left in the third quarter.
The failure to convert on 4th down added another nail into the Bucks as Halter led the team on a 6-play, 72-yard drive that took just 2:02 off the clock. He finished the drive himself, running into the end zone from three yards out for the third PG score of the game. Yowell was good on the extra point and Gilmer trailed 21-3 with 8:39 left in the quarter.
Gilmer’s next drive began at the 25 after Webb made a fair catch at the 12. It was yet another three-and-out. Pate blasted a 60-yard punt and PG went back to work at their 22.
The Bucks managed one first down and then things fell apart. Two consecutive plays resulted in false starts against the Buckeyes and when Pate came in to put the ball a bad snap went over his head and he managed to run the ball down and get a kick away, but the punt only traveled six yards and PG set up on their 45.
The Black Flag forced a three-and-out, but a 54-yard punt died at the Gilmer 1 and the Bucks needed to move 99 yards if they wanted to find the end zone.
McCown managed to guide the team to just that, moving the offense the 99 yards in 18 plays that took 6:26 off the clock. The score came with 4:14 left in the game.
Everyone in the stadium knew an onside kick by Pate was coming up and that is what happened. The kick was recovered by PG at their 48 and it was returned to the Gilmer 48, all but wrapping up the win.
The Black Flag forced a three-and-out, but Gilmer was flagged for an illegal substitution, giving PG the first down. Halter immediately ran for 30 yards down to the Gilmer 6. He then ran to the 3 and on the next play Jamarion Richardson ran into the end zone for a 3-yard TD with 1:02 left in the game. The extra point was blocked, but the final nail was in the coffin with the Hawks in command 27-10. The drive was six plays, 48 yards and took 3:12 off the clock.
The following kickoff went into an open spot and PG recovered at the Gilmer 29.
Halter took a knee twice and the game ended with a 27-10 PG win.
We visited with a very disappointed Coach Alan Metzel after the shocking defeat. We asked him how tough the loss was for him to swallow.
“Any time you lose it’s tough to swallow because we don’t expect to lose. That’s a reflection of me; obviously, I didn’t have us ready and I’ve got to get that fixed. I own that and if anybody wants to get mad they can get mad at me. Encourage these guys and we’ll come back next week and we’ll get after it.”
Then we asked if all the energy and determination it took to hold Van off last week possibly drained the tank and the team just ran out of gas.
“I really don’t. I appreciate the thought. I wish I could blame it on something like that. I think we just didn’t come with that edge tonight, you know. We didn’t play with an edge and as a result they got the upper hand and then we started making all kinds of mental mistakes. I hope we got all of that out tonight because man did we have a lot of them tonight. I hope that we just emptied our bucket of mess ups and we’ll move forward. A lot of things we did tonight were uncharacteristic. It just isn’t what we typically do so we’ve got to get it fixed.”
We asked if he felt this was the worst game the team had played all year, and he answered, “Yeah, no doubt about it. That’s why I’m saying some of those earlier ones we were like oh yeah, it was this or that, but we just got beat. We got beat, and like I said that’s a reflection of me. I own it. We’ve got to get better next week.”
We also asked if the Hawks did anything offensively or defensively he wasn’t expecting.
“I wouldn’t say offensively they did a whole lot more. They hit some big plays, especially early. We kind of slowed that down. Defensively, yes, they moved Lance (Jackson) around and they did some things to playing the safety down opposite Lance where we couldn’t double-team him without them having a free hitter. So yeah, we had to adjust as the game was going. We finally made some adjustments where we got going in the third quarter, but by that time we had already dug such a deep hole we were in a bind.”
We asked what happened on the first possession of the second quarter when the team was moving the ball but ran out of steam and turned the ball over on downs.
“We just didn’t execute. We had a third and short, didn’t get it done; we had a bust or two on what we were doing. So many of these guys have played in big games. There’s no excuse other than we didn’t get it done and we own that.
“Here’s the positive that I’ll say about next week. Our guys don’t stay down. Our guys will come back next week, we’ll work our tails off and we’ll be much better and we’ll get moving again. That’s why it’s good to be in a program with guys who have character in a town that loves they guys and will rally around them and we’ll get going again.”
The Buckeyes will host the Spring Hill Panthers Friday night at Jeff Traylor Stadium with kickoff at 7 p.m. It will be Senior Night and festivities will begin early, so make sure to attend the final home game of the season and support the Buckeyes. They will come back and will be fine and will make a deep playoff run as always. They really need your presence and support as they close out the regular season and get ready for the playoffs.
