By JOE DODD
The Liberty-Eylau Leopards started the game by running through a sign that read, “November 17, 2006... they never saw us coming.” The Gilmer Buckeyes ended the game by running through the Liberty-Eylau Leopards, notching a 41-26 win and avenging last year's shocking loss.
“It was the most satisfying victory we've ever had,” insisted Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, who kept his record of never losing back-to back games to the same opponent intact.
Gilmer's Justin (Bus) Johnson, who entered the game with only 88 carries on the season, ran the football 35 times for 266 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Buckeyes finished the game with a dominating 20-0 fourth quarter to send the defending State Champions home Friday night at Longview's Lobo Stadium before an estimated 8,000 fans.
“I didn't know I was going to get 35 [carries], but I knew we were going to pound the ball,” said Johnson, whose previous high was 16 carries against Tatum. “I'm not tired at all; I'm a little sore, they had some hard-hitting guys out there, but I'm not tired at all,” said the senior captain.
The Buckeyes, who entered the game averaging almost 23 passing attempts per game, surprised the Leopards with only 7 passes while operating out of a 2-back set for the first time this season. “We worked on it every Monday the entire year, we just didn't want to show it,” admitted Traylor, who explained the reason behind the change.
“We just thought they were so more athletic on defense than we were. We played to our strength and away from their strength,” Traylor stated, adding “It's a senior team and if the seniors wanted to advance, we let the seniors have it.” It worked, as the Buckeyes racked up 338 yards on 51 rushes, controlling the clock for almost half of the game.
“They had a great scheme; coming out and running the ball, who would have thunk that?” said Leopards' head coach Pat Brady. “Who would have thought that Gilmer would have come in and racked up those kind of rushing yards? It was a great scheme.”
While the Buckeyes' offensive game plan was a surprise, Liberty-Eylau did exactly what Gilmer expected; give the football to Lamichael James. James tried his best to match Johnson's barrage, running for 231 yards on 32 carries, but with only six runs over 10 yards and two rushing touchdowns, it wasn't enough.
“We almost played a perfect game,” gushed Traylor. “We had no turnovers, we had very few penalties, we kept the ball in front of us. As much as [James] hurt us, he never had a big play. It was almost the way we planned it to a ‘t.’ It was just remarkable.”
Buckeyes safety Braylon Webb credited their year-long focus for keeping James in check. “We had practiced all year for this. Coach Traylor had been saying every day that he [James] was going to get his, and when we get in, we've got to get ours.”
The Buckeyes got theirs early, taking the opening kickoff and riding the Bus to a touchdown10 plays later, when Johnson ran it in from 4 yards out. Johnson picked up all 64 yards in the drive on 8 carries. Freshman Adan Olivares kicked the first of five extra points, giving Gilmer a 7-0 lead just 3:02 into the game.
The Leopards' first drive looked promising, but stalled at the Gilmer 40-yard line when the Buckeyes' defense forced the Leopards to turn the football over on downs after pressuring the Leopards into an incomplete pass on fourth down.
Gilmer's offense covered the 60 yards on only four plays with Jeremy Jackson picking up 8 yards and Johnson covering the other 52 yards on only three carries, scoring from 8 yards out with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter to give the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead.
Just as Gilmer fans started to relax, Liberty-Eylau came roaring back. The Leopards' next drive lasted 5:25 and covered 67 yards in 10 plays, ending with a Michael Brewer 6-yard touchdown run, cutting Gilmer's lead to 14-7 with less than a minute gone in the second quarter.
After a three-and-out series by the Buckeyes' offense, the Leopards evened the score with a 35-yard touchdown pass from James to Kendrick Ray on fourth down.
Gilmer responded with a 63-yard, 10-play drive punctuated by Johnson's third touchdown on a 4-yard run that gave the Buckeyes a 21-14 halftime lead.
Despite the 7-point lead, the Buckeye faithful were restless, recalling that Gilmer's 9-point lead at the half last year was quickly extinguished by the Leopards' 19-0 third quarter barrage.
Those fears were quickly validated when the Leopards' Rakeem Ellis took the second half kickoff back to the Buckeyes own 45-yard line. Seven plays later James punched it in from a yard out for his first touchdown of the game. Gilmer kept a 21-20 lead when the Buckeyes' defense dropped James for a 12-yard loss on the Leopards' two-point attempt with 8:16 in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes' first series of the second half started off with a roar as Johnson busted loose for a 31-yard gain to the Leopards' 38-yard line on the first play. But the series ended with a whimper when Darian Godfrey was dropped for a 10-yard loss on fourth down, returning the football to Liberty-Eylau at their own 44-yard line.
Eight plays later, James gave the Leopards their first lead of the game with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:24 to play in the third quarter, but the Buckeyes' defense turned back another 2-point conversion attempt, making the score 26-21. “We hadn't been in a close game, we haven't had to play in the fourth quarter, and we were losing going into the fourth,” said Traylor describing the adversity that his team faced.
The Buckeyes responded with 20 unanswered points, while holding the Leopards to only 24 yards in the final quarter. “I've never been prouder of any team,” Traylor said. Johnson set the tone for the comeback with a 42-yard kickoff return to the Liberty-Eylau 40-yard line. Six plays later, Godfrey completed one of his three passes in the game, hitting Houston Tuminello on a wide receiver screen at the 15-yard line. Tuminello followed three blockers into the end zone regaining a 27-26 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“I knew that I had to get in there and I got the blocking up front and it all opened up,” Tuminello explained.
Gilmer's 2-point conversion attempt from Godfrey to Tuminello appeared to be successful, but an official ruled that Tuminello's outstretched arms had not gotten the football over the goal line.
The Leopards’ next possession lasted only three plays before the Buckeyes' Vance Green recovered a Alex Watson fumble at the Gilmer 47-yard line. “That was the play of the game I thought,” said Traylor.
“That was tough,” said Brady of the game's only turnover. “We were moving the ball; I think we're going to go down and score again because all that sophomore's got to do is take that snap and hand it off to some good athletes, but the ball goes down on the ground.”
The Buckeyes capitalized on the Leopards' mistake 50 seconds later when Johnson scored from 6 yards out pushing the lead to 34-26 with 10:16 to play in the game.
The Gilmer defense came up big again forcing the Leopards to punt on their next possession after losing 3 yards on 3 plays. Tuminello fair-caught the punt at the Buckeyes' own 45-yard line with 8:30 remaining in the game. Clinging to a vulnerable 8-point lead, the Buckeyes produced their longest-duration drive of the season, keeping the ball for 7:11 before Johnson closed the door to any Leopards' comeback hopes with a 4-yard touchdown run with only 1:19 left in the game.
“I think this game has helped us to know that we can play at that level,” said Johnson, referring to concerns that the Buckeyes weren't battle-tested. Johnson was also quick to defer credit for his career-best performance. “I wouldn't be able to run like I did tonight if it wasn't for the offensive line. They did an amazing job tonight.”
“Their effort was phenomenal,” agreed Traylor. “Chip Elms had his best game of the year. Cody Lee had his best game of the year. Garrett Adkins, David Snow, Daniel Jenkins and Justin Fielden played a great game. We also had Dakota Hagler and Ross Stevens playing tight end. All those guys played really well.”
Traylor also credited the Buckeyes' receivers for their down field blocking and said, “Our running backs ran hard and blocked well for each other.”
Traylor reserved his greatest praise for his undermanned defense. “They compete so hard and they never quit,” Traylor said. “They are the epitome of the Black Flag Defense; they're not going to surrender. To keep them scoreless in the fourth quarter was phenomenal.”
To understand the importance of this game, the 2004 State Championship winning coach summed up the victory with this statement, “It's the best win we've ever had in our program.”
STATISTICS
Gilmer Liberty-Eylau
22 First downs 16
3-7-1-0 Passing (c-a-td-int) 2-10-1-0
45 Passing yds 55
51-338 Rushes-yds 43-259
383 Total yds 314
23:40 Time of possession 24:20
2-20 Penalties-yds. 4-31
0 Fumbles lost 1
SCORE BY QUARTERS
1 2 3 4 T
Gilmer 14 7 0 20 41
L-E 0 14 12 0 26
Special Teams Player of the Week- Adan Olivares
Bounty Hunters of the Week - Mikey Wilson
Hector’s Wrecker - Gus Osborne
Black Attack - Dustin Hardin
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
JUSTIN JOHNSON drives downfield on the opening possession of the Class 3A Division I bi-district contest between Gilmer and Texarkana Liberty-Eylau last Friday night at Lobo Stadium in Longview. Johnson finished the night with 35 carries for 266 yards and five touchdowns for his most productive night yet as a Buckeye. With a fourth quarter flourish, Gilmer avenged its loss at the hands of the Leopards on this same field a year ago.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
ON GILMER’S second drive, Justin Johnson kept running backwards until he crossed the goalline for a 14-0 lead over the Leopards. After four quarters of fireworks, the Buckeyes (11-0) came out on top, 41-26, and advance to Area against the Mabank Panthers (6-5) Saturday at 2 p.m. at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches on the SFA campus. Gilmer will be the home team, but will wear white.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
COACH JEFF TRAYLOR leads the applause as he salutes the different Gilmer units which performed well to bring about the bi-district victory last Friday night. Now the Buckeyes are getting ready to face Mabank in the Area round Saturday at SFA.
The Liberty-Eylau Leopards started the game by running through a sign that read, “November 17, 2006... they never saw us coming.” The Gilmer Buckeyes ended the game by running through the Liberty-Eylau Leopards, notching a 41-26 win and avenging last year's shocking loss.
“It was the most satisfying victory we've ever had,” insisted Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, who kept his record of never losing back-to back games to the same opponent intact.
Gilmer's Justin (Bus) Johnson, who entered the game with only 88 carries on the season, ran the football 35 times for 266 yards and 5 touchdowns as the Buckeyes finished the game with a dominating 20-0 fourth quarter to send the defending State Champions home Friday night at Longview's Lobo Stadium before an estimated 8,000 fans.
“I didn't know I was going to get 35 [carries], but I knew we were going to pound the ball,” said Johnson, whose previous high was 16 carries against Tatum. “I'm not tired at all; I'm a little sore, they had some hard-hitting guys out there, but I'm not tired at all,” said the senior captain.
The Buckeyes, who entered the game averaging almost 23 passing attempts per game, surprised the Leopards with only 7 passes while operating out of a 2-back set for the first time this season. “We worked on it every Monday the entire year, we just didn't want to show it,” admitted Traylor, who explained the reason behind the change.
“We just thought they were so more athletic on defense than we were. We played to our strength and away from their strength,” Traylor stated, adding “It's a senior team and if the seniors wanted to advance, we let the seniors have it.” It worked, as the Buckeyes racked up 338 yards on 51 rushes, controlling the clock for almost half of the game.
“They had a great scheme; coming out and running the ball, who would have thunk that?” said Leopards' head coach Pat Brady. “Who would have thought that Gilmer would have come in and racked up those kind of rushing yards? It was a great scheme.”
While the Buckeyes' offensive game plan was a surprise, Liberty-Eylau did exactly what Gilmer expected; give the football to Lamichael James. James tried his best to match Johnson's barrage, running for 231 yards on 32 carries, but with only six runs over 10 yards and two rushing touchdowns, it wasn't enough.
“We almost played a perfect game,” gushed Traylor. “We had no turnovers, we had very few penalties, we kept the ball in front of us. As much as [James] hurt us, he never had a big play. It was almost the way we planned it to a ‘t.’ It was just remarkable.”
Buckeyes safety Braylon Webb credited their year-long focus for keeping James in check. “We had practiced all year for this. Coach Traylor had been saying every day that he [James] was going to get his, and when we get in, we've got to get ours.”
The Buckeyes got theirs early, taking the opening kickoff and riding the Bus to a touchdown10 plays later, when Johnson ran it in from 4 yards out. Johnson picked up all 64 yards in the drive on 8 carries. Freshman Adan Olivares kicked the first of five extra points, giving Gilmer a 7-0 lead just 3:02 into the game.
The Leopards' first drive looked promising, but stalled at the Gilmer 40-yard line when the Buckeyes' defense forced the Leopards to turn the football over on downs after pressuring the Leopards into an incomplete pass on fourth down.
Gilmer's offense covered the 60 yards on only four plays with Jeremy Jackson picking up 8 yards and Johnson covering the other 52 yards on only three carries, scoring from 8 yards out with 4:30 remaining in the first quarter to give the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead.
Just as Gilmer fans started to relax, Liberty-Eylau came roaring back. The Leopards' next drive lasted 5:25 and covered 67 yards in 10 plays, ending with a Michael Brewer 6-yard touchdown run, cutting Gilmer's lead to 14-7 with less than a minute gone in the second quarter.
After a three-and-out series by the Buckeyes' offense, the Leopards evened the score with a 35-yard touchdown pass from James to Kendrick Ray on fourth down.
Gilmer responded with a 63-yard, 10-play drive punctuated by Johnson's third touchdown on a 4-yard run that gave the Buckeyes a 21-14 halftime lead.
Despite the 7-point lead, the Buckeye faithful were restless, recalling that Gilmer's 9-point lead at the half last year was quickly extinguished by the Leopards' 19-0 third quarter barrage.
Those fears were quickly validated when the Leopards' Rakeem Ellis took the second half kickoff back to the Buckeyes own 45-yard line. Seven plays later James punched it in from a yard out for his first touchdown of the game. Gilmer kept a 21-20 lead when the Buckeyes' defense dropped James for a 12-yard loss on the Leopards' two-point attempt with 8:16 in the third quarter.
The Buckeyes' first series of the second half started off with a roar as Johnson busted loose for a 31-yard gain to the Leopards' 38-yard line on the first play. But the series ended with a whimper when Darian Godfrey was dropped for a 10-yard loss on fourth down, returning the football to Liberty-Eylau at their own 44-yard line.
Eight plays later, James gave the Leopards their first lead of the game with a 3-yard touchdown run with 2:24 to play in the third quarter, but the Buckeyes' defense turned back another 2-point conversion attempt, making the score 26-21. “We hadn't been in a close game, we haven't had to play in the fourth quarter, and we were losing going into the fourth,” said Traylor describing the adversity that his team faced.
The Buckeyes responded with 20 unanswered points, while holding the Leopards to only 24 yards in the final quarter. “I've never been prouder of any team,” Traylor said. Johnson set the tone for the comeback with a 42-yard kickoff return to the Liberty-Eylau 40-yard line. Six plays later, Godfrey completed one of his three passes in the game, hitting Houston Tuminello on a wide receiver screen at the 15-yard line. Tuminello followed three blockers into the end zone regaining a 27-26 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter.
“I knew that I had to get in there and I got the blocking up front and it all opened up,” Tuminello explained.
Gilmer's 2-point conversion attempt from Godfrey to Tuminello appeared to be successful, but an official ruled that Tuminello's outstretched arms had not gotten the football over the goal line.
The Leopards’ next possession lasted only three plays before the Buckeyes' Vance Green recovered a Alex Watson fumble at the Gilmer 47-yard line. “That was the play of the game I thought,” said Traylor.
“That was tough,” said Brady of the game's only turnover. “We were moving the ball; I think we're going to go down and score again because all that sophomore's got to do is take that snap and hand it off to some good athletes, but the ball goes down on the ground.”
The Buckeyes capitalized on the Leopards' mistake 50 seconds later when Johnson scored from 6 yards out pushing the lead to 34-26 with 10:16 to play in the game.
The Gilmer defense came up big again forcing the Leopards to punt on their next possession after losing 3 yards on 3 plays. Tuminello fair-caught the punt at the Buckeyes' own 45-yard line with 8:30 remaining in the game. Clinging to a vulnerable 8-point lead, the Buckeyes produced their longest-duration drive of the season, keeping the ball for 7:11 before Johnson closed the door to any Leopards' comeback hopes with a 4-yard touchdown run with only 1:19 left in the game.
“I think this game has helped us to know that we can play at that level,” said Johnson, referring to concerns that the Buckeyes weren't battle-tested. Johnson was also quick to defer credit for his career-best performance. “I wouldn't be able to run like I did tonight if it wasn't for the offensive line. They did an amazing job tonight.”
“Their effort was phenomenal,” agreed Traylor. “Chip Elms had his best game of the year. Cody Lee had his best game of the year. Garrett Adkins, David Snow, Daniel Jenkins and Justin Fielden played a great game. We also had Dakota Hagler and Ross Stevens playing tight end. All those guys played really well.”
Traylor also credited the Buckeyes' receivers for their down field blocking and said, “Our running backs ran hard and blocked well for each other.”
Traylor reserved his greatest praise for his undermanned defense. “They compete so hard and they never quit,” Traylor said. “They are the epitome of the Black Flag Defense; they're not going to surrender. To keep them scoreless in the fourth quarter was phenomenal.”
To understand the importance of this game, the 2004 State Championship winning coach summed up the victory with this statement, “It's the best win we've ever had in our program.”
STATISTICS
Gilmer Liberty-Eylau
22 First downs 16
3-7-1-0 Passing (c-a-td-int) 2-10-1-0
45 Passing yds 55
51-338 Rushes-yds 43-259
383 Total yds 314
23:40 Time of possession 24:20
2-20 Penalties-yds. 4-31
0 Fumbles lost 1
SCORE BY QUARTERS
1 2 3 4 T
Gilmer 14 7 0 20 41
L-E 0 14 12 0 26
Special Teams Player of the Week- Adan Olivares
Bounty Hunters of the Week - Mikey Wilson
Hector’s Wrecker - Gus Osborne
Black Attack - Dustin Hardin
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
JUSTIN JOHNSON drives downfield on the opening possession of the Class 3A Division I bi-district contest between Gilmer and Texarkana Liberty-Eylau last Friday night at Lobo Stadium in Longview. Johnson finished the night with 35 carries for 266 yards and five touchdowns for his most productive night yet as a Buckeye. With a fourth quarter flourish, Gilmer avenged its loss at the hands of the Leopards on this same field a year ago.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
ON GILMER’S second drive, Justin Johnson kept running backwards until he crossed the goalline for a 14-0 lead over the Leopards. After four quarters of fireworks, the Buckeyes (11-0) came out on top, 41-26, and advance to Area against the Mabank Panthers (6-5) Saturday at 2 p.m. at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches on the SFA campus. Gilmer will be the home team, but will wear white.
Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby
COACH JEFF TRAYLOR leads the applause as he salutes the different Gilmer units which performed well to bring about the bi-district victory last Friday night. Now the Buckeyes are getting ready to face Mabank in the Area round Saturday at SFA.
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