Gatewood Schools got its 2022 football season off to a great start Friday night, winning 50-29 in a non-conference game over the visiting Trinity Christian Crusaders from Dublin.
Still, Gators head coach Jeff Ratliff was left looking for more.
“I was a little disappointed with our conditioning, and you know, that led to not having guys on the field when they needed to be on the field,” Ratliff said. “And that’s a sloppiness issue or sharpness issue, and that’s on me. So that’s gonna be fixed, but yeah, we did some good things, too.
"I thought we ran the ball well and I loved the effort we got. It was our first full game (this season) since we didn’t have a chance to get a scrimmage game in, because it got rained out,” the veteran coach continued. “And those guys (Trinity) played last week, so hats off to them, but they gave us a chance to get one under our belts.”
After the opening kickoff by Gatewood’s Jayden Daniel, Trinity got its first chance with the ball and immediately threw deep down the left sideline. But Gatewood sophomore quarterback Ames Johnson, who pulls double duty as a defensive back, made a solid play, knocking the ball away from the Crusaders' receiver at the last second.
The Gators got as close as the Crusaders’ four-yard line late in the opening stanza but turned the ball over on downs and the quarter ended in a scoreless tie. The Gatewood crew found its offensive game in the second quarter, though, scoring four touchdowns followed by extra-point kicks by Daniel on each, giving them a 28-7 lead at the half.
Wide receiver Sean Harvey ran it in first at 9:06, followed by a short run by Johnson only 94 seconds later, capitalizing on a Trinity fumble for the second TD. The third came after Johnson tossed a 48-yard bomb to John Wallace Thompson, who made a nice mid-field catch in traffic, then enjoyed a clear path to the goal line.
Gatewood made some solid plays on the defensive side, too, including an impressive come-from-behind sprint down the right sideline by junior linebacker Evan Bennett to make a solo tackle at the Gators' 30-yard line against a Crusader who appeared destined for the end zone.
The Gators’ fourth score came courtesy of another pinpoint throw by Johnson to junior tight end Lawson Wooten, who made a jumping catch on the goal line with 2:54 left in the half, despite a Trinity defender being all over him.
With just nine seconds left before halftime, the Crusaders finally got on the board with a long pass down the right sideline. Then, nine minutes into the second half, Trinity threw again from inside the Gators’ 20-yard line to cut their lead to 28-14 with the extra point, but that was as close as Trinity would get all night.
Gatewood responded with Bennett making a great run off the ensuing kickoff, carrying the ball 45 yards from his own 15, where the Gators’ running game continued with 2021 All-State senior running back Justin Jameson taking over. After being hauled down just one yard short of his first TD of the season, Jameson scored on the next play, finding a hole at 9:27 of the third quarter and diving across for six more points.
The Gators departed from the norm with their next play, though, lining up for the field goal, but having Daniel back off at the last second as Johnson, his holder all night, stood up, swung to his right, and quickly snapped a pass to Jameson, who punched his way in for the two-point conversion.
That ended scoring for the quarter, and shortly after the final 15 minutes began Johnson had to put his defensive hat back on, this time with a diving sideline block that took out the feet of a sprinting Crusader looking to break free right in front of the Gators’ bench. That sequence eventually led to another Trinity touchdown, though, with just over six minutes left in the game.
After securing the extra point, Trinity attempted an onside kick in hopes of retrieving the ball and tightening up the score, but the Gators prevailed in the scrum and at 4:45 Jameson scored again, jumping high across the goal line with a Crusaders defender in tow.
To their credit, the Trinity players still had some fight left, returning immediately with a long drive downfield that brought the score to 43-29 with four minutes left in the game. But at 1:08 left, Johnson again connected on a pass to Wooten on the goal line, leading to the 50-29 final after Daniel finished with a perfect record for the night on attempted extra points.
“You can’t give anybody easy scores and turnovers and expect success,” Crusaders head coach Jed Marsh said after the game. “I thought we played physically and an evenly matched game, but we just gave turnovers. And you know, you play a team as well coached as Gatewood and they’re gonna capitalize. They had two big backs that are hard to stop, but I thought we did a dang good job at stopping ‘em. We just gave ‘em too many easy scores.”
In a pair of non-region games, the Gators (1-0) play again this Friday night at Augusta Prep (0-1) in Martinez, followed by their next home game Sep. 9, against Southland Academy (2-0), from Americus.