By JOE DODD
It’s not Christmas yet, but Gilmer Buckeyes head coach Jeff Traylor has a wish list already made out. What do you get for the coach of class 3A’s top offense, averaging 531 yards of total offense and 53 points per game? What do you get for a defense ranked 5th in class 3A allowing only 9 points per game? What do you get for a team averaging a class 3A best 44 point margin of victory per game?
How about a big ball game to prepare for the playoffs? “We have not been challenged this year very much and that concerns me because iron sharpens iron, and I don’t know if we are sharp right now,” Traylor said. “I’m excited about having a big game. I think this is a perfect tune-up for our playoff game.”
The big game Traylor is excited about is Friday’s District 15-3A showdown between the 4th ranked Gilmer Buckeyes (8-0, 3-0) and the Spring Hill Panthers (6-2, 3-0) at Spring Hill’s Panther Stadium. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a big game. I will be interested to see how we’ll rise up and go,” Traylor said.
Arguably the last big game the Buckeyes played in was two months ago in the Trinity Mother Frances Football Classic against Tatum. Traylor was pleased with his team’s 71-28 win, but insists that Friday’s game is bigger. “This one means something. Whoever wins this game is leaving with a trophy.”
That would be a district championship trophy, the same trophy that Gilmer has taken home for six straight seasons, all without a loss in district play. The last time the Buckeyes lost a district game was in 2000, Traylor’s first season as Gilmer’s head coach. “If we don’t win it; that’s seven years gone in one night,” warned Traylor.
That district winning streak includes a 21-18 win against Spring Hill in 2001 that Traylor considers to be one of the biggest of his career. “They were undefeated and ranked like third in the state. We were 3-2 and we didn’t know how we were going to try and play with them. Our kids gave an effort like I’d never seen before. It was our first big win for our program.”
Traylor also experienced one of his career lows at the hands of the Panthers in his first season. “It was 28-0 at the end of the first quarter; I’ll never forget it because I remember trying to calculate what 4 times 28 was, and I was thinking 112 points in a game is going to be a lot of points.” Gilmer lost that game 41-21, and Traylor has gone 3-0 against the Panthers since.
Most of those games were close, until last season when Spring Hill suffered a 55-7 beating at Buckeye Stadium. Traylor believes that the Panthers have improved since last year. “Their offense is much better this year,” Traylor said in reference to Spring Hill’s balanced attack that averages 338 yards per game with 173 yards rushing and 165 yards passing.
Traylor credits the Panthers offensive line with the turn around. “Their offensive line is the best line we’ve played so far,” said Traylor, who complemented every lineman, and praised one in particular. “They have a division one offensive lineman in Jordan Henry (6-4, 250). He’s just a great player and a great athlete.”
Henry helps clear the path for junior running back Jake Fudge (5-10, 170), who leads the Panthers with 925 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 166 carries. “Jake Fudge; everybody knows how great Jake is, he can go now,” said Traylor.
Senior quarterback Chris Lee has been equally impressive through the air throwing for 1,154 yards and 10 touchdowns. His primary target has been senior Austin Castleberry who has caught 36 passes for 391 yards and a touchdown.
Panthers’ head coach Robert Bero believes that they can move the ball against the Buckeyes’ defense. “We’re going to try and run the football and mix the throwing game in there,” Bero said. “We’ve had some success throwing the ball down the field this year. We’ve got a controlled passing game, but I think we’ve got the ability to throw the football down the field. If we can protect our quarterback and give him time to throw the football, I feel like we can throw the football pretty well.”
Traylor respects Bero who has a 18-15 record in his third season as the Panthers head coach, after a 92-38-3 record as Longview’s head coach for twelve years. “They’re very well coached,” Traylor said. “Coach Bero has been winning games a long time.”
Bero’s been around long enough to know the challenge facing his Panthers. “It’s going to be a big task for our football team,” said Bero. “We know that Gilmer is an outstanding program, and very well coached, but we’re excited about the possibility to play for a championship.”
According to Bero, the Panthers have an advantage over many teams that the Buckeyes play. “I think some teams are beat before they ever walk on the field against Gilmer, and I don’t think our football team is like that,” Bero said.
“We’re not going to back down from Gilmer. We haven’t backed down from anybody. We played a really good non-district schedule, and our football team has gotten a little bit better each week.”
Spring Hill started the season with an overtime win against Lindale before losing a close game to Daingerfield. The Panthers then won back-to-back games against Pleasant Grove and Chapel Hill before losing their last non-district game to Winnsboro. In district 15-3A play, Spring Hill topped White Oak 23-7, before exploding offensively in a 63-13 win over Gladewater and a 49-14 win over Sabine.
“Just about every game we’ve been in this year has been decided in the fourth quarter except for the last couple of weeks,” said Bero, who explained why he doesn’t want to get in an offensive slug fest with the Buckeyes. “You don’t ever want to get into a scoring match with them because you’re not going to win that type of game.”
Bero said the template for beating Gilmer was partially on display last week. “Mineola did an outstanding job of controlling the football in the first half, but they didn’t score. You’ve got to be able to play some ball control and take some possessions away from Gilmer, but you’ve got to be able to put points on the board.”
Mineola’s ball control offense kept the Buckeyes to a season low 14 points in the first half. That’s a feat Bero hopes the Panthers can repeat. “We better be ready to play early, because one thing Gilmer can do is they can put you away pretty quick, and we realize that so I think our football team is going to be ready to play in the beginning.”
Traylor expects his offense to have a better first half than last week against Mineola, however he doubts it will be able to match last year’s performance against Spring Hill when the Buckeyes rolled up 457 total yards and 41 points behind G.J. Kinne’s 429 yards passing and 5 touchdowns.
Despite those gaudy numbers, Traylor is convinced that, “Their kids believe they can play with us, and that’s half the battle.” And because of that, Traylor promises his team will be ready. “Our kids won’t take them lightly. We’ll get after them.”
“We’ll have our work cut out for us,” Traylor said before referring to his wish list. “We need a crowd. We need a playoff environment Friday night. We need that big game feeling bad.”
Hector’s Wrecker- J.T. Beechum
Black Attack - Dustin Hardin
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
GILMER’S DEVANE CLARK heads upfield on a reverse on the Buckeyes’ first touchdown drive against Mineola.
From the Longview News-Journal:
Panthers take on Buckeyes
From the Tyler Morning Telegraph:
GILMER BUCKEYES at SPRING HILL PANTHERS
It’s not Christmas yet, but Gilmer Buckeyes head coach Jeff Traylor has a wish list already made out. What do you get for the coach of class 3A’s top offense, averaging 531 yards of total offense and 53 points per game? What do you get for a defense ranked 5th in class 3A allowing only 9 points per game? What do you get for a team averaging a class 3A best 44 point margin of victory per game?
How about a big ball game to prepare for the playoffs? “We have not been challenged this year very much and that concerns me because iron sharpens iron, and I don’t know if we are sharp right now,” Traylor said. “I’m excited about having a big game. I think this is a perfect tune-up for our playoff game.”
The big game Traylor is excited about is Friday’s District 15-3A showdown between the 4th ranked Gilmer Buckeyes (8-0, 3-0) and the Spring Hill Panthers (6-2, 3-0) at Spring Hill’s Panther Stadium. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had a big game. I will be interested to see how we’ll rise up and go,” Traylor said.
Arguably the last big game the Buckeyes played in was two months ago in the Trinity Mother Frances Football Classic against Tatum. Traylor was pleased with his team’s 71-28 win, but insists that Friday’s game is bigger. “This one means something. Whoever wins this game is leaving with a trophy.”
That would be a district championship trophy, the same trophy that Gilmer has taken home for six straight seasons, all without a loss in district play. The last time the Buckeyes lost a district game was in 2000, Traylor’s first season as Gilmer’s head coach. “If we don’t win it; that’s seven years gone in one night,” warned Traylor.
That district winning streak includes a 21-18 win against Spring Hill in 2001 that Traylor considers to be one of the biggest of his career. “They were undefeated and ranked like third in the state. We were 3-2 and we didn’t know how we were going to try and play with them. Our kids gave an effort like I’d never seen before. It was our first big win for our program.”
Traylor also experienced one of his career lows at the hands of the Panthers in his first season. “It was 28-0 at the end of the first quarter; I’ll never forget it because I remember trying to calculate what 4 times 28 was, and I was thinking 112 points in a game is going to be a lot of points.” Gilmer lost that game 41-21, and Traylor has gone 3-0 against the Panthers since.
Most of those games were close, until last season when Spring Hill suffered a 55-7 beating at Buckeye Stadium. Traylor believes that the Panthers have improved since last year. “Their offense is much better this year,” Traylor said in reference to Spring Hill’s balanced attack that averages 338 yards per game with 173 yards rushing and 165 yards passing.
Traylor credits the Panthers offensive line with the turn around. “Their offensive line is the best line we’ve played so far,” said Traylor, who complemented every lineman, and praised one in particular. “They have a division one offensive lineman in Jordan Henry (6-4, 250). He’s just a great player and a great athlete.”
Henry helps clear the path for junior running back Jake Fudge (5-10, 170), who leads the Panthers with 925 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns on 166 carries. “Jake Fudge; everybody knows how great Jake is, he can go now,” said Traylor.
Senior quarterback Chris Lee has been equally impressive through the air throwing for 1,154 yards and 10 touchdowns. His primary target has been senior Austin Castleberry who has caught 36 passes for 391 yards and a touchdown.
Panthers’ head coach Robert Bero believes that they can move the ball against the Buckeyes’ defense. “We’re going to try and run the football and mix the throwing game in there,” Bero said. “We’ve had some success throwing the ball down the field this year. We’ve got a controlled passing game, but I think we’ve got the ability to throw the football down the field. If we can protect our quarterback and give him time to throw the football, I feel like we can throw the football pretty well.”
Traylor respects Bero who has a 18-15 record in his third season as the Panthers head coach, after a 92-38-3 record as Longview’s head coach for twelve years. “They’re very well coached,” Traylor said. “Coach Bero has been winning games a long time.”
Bero’s been around long enough to know the challenge facing his Panthers. “It’s going to be a big task for our football team,” said Bero. “We know that Gilmer is an outstanding program, and very well coached, but we’re excited about the possibility to play for a championship.”
According to Bero, the Panthers have an advantage over many teams that the Buckeyes play. “I think some teams are beat before they ever walk on the field against Gilmer, and I don’t think our football team is like that,” Bero said.
“We’re not going to back down from Gilmer. We haven’t backed down from anybody. We played a really good non-district schedule, and our football team has gotten a little bit better each week.”
Spring Hill started the season with an overtime win against Lindale before losing a close game to Daingerfield. The Panthers then won back-to-back games against Pleasant Grove and Chapel Hill before losing their last non-district game to Winnsboro. In district 15-3A play, Spring Hill topped White Oak 23-7, before exploding offensively in a 63-13 win over Gladewater and a 49-14 win over Sabine.
“Just about every game we’ve been in this year has been decided in the fourth quarter except for the last couple of weeks,” said Bero, who explained why he doesn’t want to get in an offensive slug fest with the Buckeyes. “You don’t ever want to get into a scoring match with them because you’re not going to win that type of game.”
Bero said the template for beating Gilmer was partially on display last week. “Mineola did an outstanding job of controlling the football in the first half, but they didn’t score. You’ve got to be able to play some ball control and take some possessions away from Gilmer, but you’ve got to be able to put points on the board.”
Mineola’s ball control offense kept the Buckeyes to a season low 14 points in the first half. That’s a feat Bero hopes the Panthers can repeat. “We better be ready to play early, because one thing Gilmer can do is they can put you away pretty quick, and we realize that so I think our football team is going to be ready to play in the beginning.”
Traylor expects his offense to have a better first half than last week against Mineola, however he doubts it will be able to match last year’s performance against Spring Hill when the Buckeyes rolled up 457 total yards and 41 points behind G.J. Kinne’s 429 yards passing and 5 touchdowns.
Despite those gaudy numbers, Traylor is convinced that, “Their kids believe they can play with us, and that’s half the battle.” And because of that, Traylor promises his team will be ready. “Our kids won’t take them lightly. We’ll get after them.”
“We’ll have our work cut out for us,” Traylor said before referring to his wish list. “We need a crowd. We need a playoff environment Friday night. We need that big game feeling bad.”
Hector’s Wrecker- J.T. Beechum
Black Attack - Dustin Hardin
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
GILMER’S DEVANE CLARK heads upfield on a reverse on the Buckeyes’ first touchdown drive against Mineola.
From the Longview News-Journal:
Panthers take on Buckeyes
From the Tyler Morning Telegraph:
GILMER BUCKEYES at SPRING HILL PANTHERS
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