Gilmer Buckeyes

Gilmer's Josh Nelson loses fight against leukemia

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers when you face trials of many kinds.” (James 1:2) The first time I read this verse I thought that the author had to be insane. No one wants to hurt. To see someone you love helpless in pain or agony isn’t a pleasant thing. It is human nature not to enjoy suffering. Why then would the author of this verse make a statement like that? This verse used to be an enigma to me, but in recent trials I fully grasp the meaning of it. I can recall 2 1/2 years back, on my first day of high school, when my assigned seating in Geography class landed me beside Josh Nelson. Josh and I had known who each other was since third grade, yet we didn’t know anything about each others true self. Who could have foreseen that that mild acquaintanceship would evolve into an unbreakable brotherhood. Throughout the course of our freshman year Josh and I got to know each other on a more personal level. We seemed to somewhat be at the same place in our walks with God. The closer we g...

By JOE DODD There have been a lot of firsts for the Gilmer Buckeyes’ football team in their seven seasons under head coach Jeff Traylor. There was the team’s first perfect season and first state championship in 2004. There was the first preseason number one ranking and first-ever out-of-state opponent in 2006. Now the Buckeyes have another first to add to that resume: hosting their first out-of-state opponent. The Richwood (Louisiana) Rams visit Buckeye Stadium Friday night to kick off the 2007 season for the 7th-ranked Buckeyes. Richwood finished the 2006 season 8-5, losing in the Louisiana Class 3A Quarterfinals despite a 3-game losing streak to start the season. That’s something that Rams receiver Richard Wilson would like to avoid this year. “Last year we started off 0-3 and we kind of got down,” confessed Wilson. “We’re trying to start off on the right track this year, so we hope to win and continue on from there.” Gilmer however, would love to start the season off exactly the way...

By JOE DODD At the end of the Gilmer Buckeyes final preseason scrimmage, head coach Jeff Traylor stood in front of his kneeling players and reminded them that they had 85 days remaining to reach their off-season focus. What? Wasn’t the Buckeyes’ regular season opener only eight days away? “That’s the first playoff game,” explained Traylor. “And I would hope that our program is to the point now that we would expect to be in the playoffs.” Expectations are something that Traylor knows all about. His 2006 team started the season ranked number one in Class 3A. Buckeyes quarterback G.J. Kinne was on the cover of Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine. Nothing less than a state championship was expected. The Buckeyes responded with a 10-0 regular season record. On Nov. 17, the unexpected happened. Gilmer lost in the first round of the playoffs to eventual state champion Liberty-Eylau. “We started counting down the days we got to play Liberty-Eylau again the day after,” admitted Traylor. “Pe...

The Gilmer Buckeyes’ Athletic Booster Club’s Lunch with Coach Traylor started Monday, Aug. 27, at the Gilmer Country Club at noon. Attendees must present their Buckeye Booster Club Membership Card at the door. Memberships will be sold before the lunch. Regular memberships are only $25. Gilmer head football coach Jeff Traylor will give Booster Club members behind-the-scenes insight into the Buckeyes, and preview each week’s opponent. These will be held each Monday during the season (except for Labor Day; lunch that week will be on Tuesday).

By JOE DODD The Gilmer Buckeyes prepared for the circus of the regular season by taming the New Boston Lions 4-0 in the team’s final scrimmage Thursday night in New Boston. The Buckeyes’ Justin Johnson saw his first action of the preseason, and made the most of the opportunity with three touchdown runs. Houston Tuminello scored the other Gilmer touchdown, catching a Darian Godfrey pass. Tuminello’s score came in the controlled portion of the scrimmage, along with Johnson’s first touchdown run, as the Buckeyes took advantage of two Lion turnovers. Dakota Hagler recovered a fumble, and Ross Stevens collected the first of his two interceptions on the night, giving Gilmer a comfortable lead heading into the final 20-minute game-condition scrimmage. The Buckeyes’ offense failed to crank on its first possession, gaining only a yard before getting off a 26-yard punt, giving the ball to the Lions at their own 43-yard line. New Boston got down to the Buckeyes’ 18-yard line in only five plays, b...

By JOE DODD “We’ve got a lot to do.” That’s how Gilmer Buckeyes head football coach Jeff Traylor summarized his team’s performance following their first scrimmage of the season Saturday, Aug. 18, against the Kilgore Bulldogs. Despite two touchdowns for each team, the Bulldogs looked better on the statistics sheet, out-gaining the Buckeyes 338 to 254 total yards. Gilmer also committed three turnovers, while Kilgore had none. “The statistics don’t look good,” admitted Traylor, who blamed the low yardage totals on dropped passes. “If you weren’t at the game, those drops make the quarterbacks look bad. So if you catch the ones you’re supposed to, and [do not have] a couple of bad choices by the quarterbacks, we would have been okay in the passing game.” Buckeyes’ quarterbacks combined to complete only eight passes out of 27 attempts, while throwing two interceptions. “When you throw the ball as much as we do, you’re going to look bad that early,” said Traylor. Even though the offense was i...

By CHERIE HOBBS GILMER ROTARY CLUB recently heard about prospects for the coming football season from Gilmer High School Coach Jeff Traylor and some of the 2007 Buckeyes. From left are Justin Johnson, David Snow, Coach Traylor, Lamar Harris and Brennan Thompson. “Building character in young men and women is what Gilmer Buckeye Athletics is all about.”—Coach Jeff Traylor Jeff Traylor, Gilmer High School athletic director and head football coach, recently spoke to the Gilmer Rotary Club for the eighth consecutive year, promising to do his best. The Buckeyes’ first scrimmage was scheduled for last Saturday morning against Chapel Hill, but due to the fatal car accident of one of their players, it was cancelled. The Buckeyes were able to schedule a replacement scrimmage against Kilgore. Their final scrimmage is tomorrow evening (Aug. 23) beginning at 6 p.m. in New Boston. The season opens here at home on Aug. 31 against Richwood (La.). Kickoff at Buckeye Stadium is set for 7:30 p.m. Coach T...

Mirror Photo / M.L. Kirby DUSTIN JONES, left, is introduced at Meet the Buckeyes Saturday, Aug. 11, as Athletic Director Jeff Traylor explains Jones has committed verbally to attend Stephen F. Austin State University in 2008. More than 500 attended the toasty gathering in what was the hottest day to date.

Wk 0 8/31 vs Richwood (LA) Wk 1 9/6 at Tatum (changed to TMF Rose Stadium in Tyler) Wk 2 9/14 vs Daingerfield Wk 3 9/21 Open Wk 4 9/28 at Center Wk 5 10/5 vs Atlanta Wk 6 10/12 at Gladewater Sabine Wk 7 10/19 at White Oak Wk 8 10/26 vs Mineola Wk 9 11/3 at Longview Spring Hill Wk 10 11/10 vs Gladewater

Mirror Photo / Mary Laschinger Kirby LAMAR HARRIS joins his teammates as Coach Jeff Traylor introduces him at 'Meet the Buckeyes' Saturday night. Harris has already made a verbal commitment to attend Texas A&M in 2008.

This is a change in plans because of a tragedy which hit Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill football suffers tragedy Gilmer sets scrimmage with Kilgore

By JOE DODD An army of 141 Buckeyes showed up for their first football practice on Monday and Tuesday, as practice began for the 2007 season. Ninety-four student-athletes reported to the new Field House Monday evening for the 10th-12th grade practice, and another forty-seven 9th grade football players went through their first practice Tuesday morning. Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor liked what he saw in his varsity team’s first day. “I was very pleased at how well we executed.” remarked Traylor, whose Buckeyes finished 10-1 last season. “Our coaches just did a wonderful job tonight. We were very organized. You could tell we were ready to get the bur off of us. That Liberty-Eylau loss is still stinging our coaches tremendously. We coached hard tonight.” Traylor designed the first day of practice to be the most challenging in his eight years at his alma mater. “We gave them the hardest first practice. That’s the most conditioning we’ve ever done for a first practice, and they just kept bo...

By JOE DODD The Gilmer Buckeyes will start two-a-day practices Monday, Aug. 6, with 10th-12th grade student-athletes reporting to the new Field House at 5 p.m. Team meetings will start at 5:30 p.m., with the first practice running from 6-7:30 p.m. at Buckeye Stadium. After a short break, meetings will resume at 8 p.m., followed by the final practice session from 8:30-10 p.m. Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor is ready for the start of the new season. “It’s always an exciting time because you don’t know what’s going to happen; you never know. These are always fun times,” said Traylor, who begins his 8th season in Gilmer with an amazing 71-14 record. The Buckeyes will enjoy the use of the school’s new Field House completed this spring. “We can fit so many more kids into the locker rooms, and we can handle so many more kids in the weight room, so it’s going to have a lot of benefits,” stated Traylor. In addition to the new Field House, another change for Traylor’s Buckeyes will be more...

By JOE DODD The first annual East Texas Passing Academy will be held at Buckeye Stadium beginning Monday, July 23, and ending Thursday, July 26. The camp will run from 6:30-9:30 p.m. each night. The camp is for athletes entering grades 7-12 this fall. Cost of the camp is $100. The directors of the camp will be Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor, and his assistants Matt Turner and Kurt Traylor. Jeff Traylor and his staff have consistently produced some of the top offenses in the state of Texas , as well as develop several Division 1 college and NFL quarterbacks. Traylor has assisted former Southlake Carroll head coach Todd Dodge at his passing academy for several years, and decided to start this camp at Dodge’s urging. “He's always told me we should do one in East Texas , because no one really does this type of camp,” Traylor said. The camp is designed to allow each athlete the opportunity for multiple repetitions, and up-close attention to technique from the coaching staff. Traylor ...

By JOE DODD The Gilmer Buckeyes' football game against the Tatum Eagles might be moved from a scheduled Friday night meeting at Eagle Stadium in Tatum to a Thursday night contest at Tyler's Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium. The move would accommodate a possible live television broadcast by Fox Sports Southwest. Tatum head coach Andy Evans told the Longview News-Journal that he had been contacted by Titus Sports Marketing, the promoters of the Trinity Mother Frances Football Classic, to see if he would be interested in moving the game to the Classic's open Thursday night, Sept. 6 slot. Evans was reluctant to give up a home game, but at the request of his team captains, decided to pursue the possibility of playing in a televised game. Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, whose Buckeyes have a 4-1 record against Tatum since Traylor took over the program in 2000, said that the decision to move the game is Eagle's alone. “It's Tatum's home game and we're going to p...

By GABRIEL D. BROOKS Thursday, July 19, 2007 A deal is in the works that would televise this season's Tatum-Gilmer football game, according to Tatum coach Andy Evans and Titus Sports Marketing spokesman Dave Stephenson. Evans said Titus approached him and Gilmer coach Jeff Traylor offering the possibility to televise the game, which is during the second week of the season, but that a deal is not finalized and is still in the works. "We've not officially signed an agreement yet," Evans said. "I haven't signed the contract and I don't know if coach (Traylor) has signed it or not." Gilmer hosted Tatum last season in a 45-21 Buckeye win, and this year's game was scheduled to be at Eagle Stadium in Tatum. However, University Interscholastic League rules prohibit televising a game on Friday nights, so the game would be held Thursday, Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. and would be moved to Trinity Mother Frances Rose Stadium in Tyler. Stephenson said the agreement in t...

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Kenneth Pettway, a 2000 Gilmer High School graduate, will offer a free NFL Experience Camp to all kids entering 6-12th grade on Friday, July 13 at Buckeye Stadium in Gilmer. The camp will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at approximately 1:30 p.m. “It's something that Kenny has wanted to do,” said Gilmer head coach Jeff Traylor, who will provide his coaching staff to help Pettway at the camp. “He's a super young man. He's come back to my camps every year that he could since I've been here. He always speaks to the kids.” Pettway was a multi-sport talent at Gilmer, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball and track, before playing football at Southern Arkansas for two seasons. Pettway transferred to Grambling State where he earned All-SWAC honors his senior year. The Houston Texans drafted Pettway in the 5th round of the 2005 NFL draft. Pettway spent the 2005 season on the Texans' practice squad before being cut before the 2006...

Mirror Photo / M.L. Kirby OVER 150 YOUTH gather on the midfield ‘G’ at Buckeye Stadium on Friday, July 13, around Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Pettway, left, of the Jacksonville Jaguars, a Buckeye alumnus, and his friends, Alfred Malone of the Houston Texans, and Randy Hymes, recently of the Minnesota Vikings and one of Pettway’s teammates at Grambling State University. The camp sponsored by the National Football League is the first led by Pettway, who graduated from Gilmer High School in 2000.

By JOE DODD The 6th annual Buckeyes’ Booster Club 7-on-7 Tournament proved a big success for the Gilmer football program as the host Buckeyes won the Junior Varsity division and finished second in the Varsity division. The varsity squad finished the tournament with a 4-1 record, losing to class 4A Sulphur Springs 41-13 in the championship game. Gilmer’s Junior Varsity team ended the day with a perfect 5-0 record, including a 39-18 thumping of Class 4A Pine Tree in the championship game. "It was great," stated Buckeyes’ head coach Jeff Traylor. "We had a lot of success, that is always good." Traylor was upbeat despite his team’s loss in the varsity championship game. "We got down in the Sulphur Springs game, and I was awaiting to see if there was going to be some quit in us, but we had great leadership, and just kept battling." The Buckeyes’ varsity squad finished pool play 3-0, defeating White Oak 26-6, Pleasant Grove 38-7, and Pine Tree 39-18. Gilmer then...