From the opening kickoff it was obvious, last Friday just wasn’t going to be the Gatewood Gators’ night.
A good, deep kick by Gators junior Jayden Daniel sent the ball to St. Anne-Pacelli’s Cooper Trombley on his own 10-yard line, but the senior wide receiver took it the entire 90 yards to a touchdown about 12 seconds into the game at Sammons Field in Eatonton.
The visiting AAAA Vikings from Columbus then set up for an obvious 2-point conversion attempt and in less than 20 seconds it was already 8-0 Vikes. At the end of the opening quarter, the Pacelli lead had grown to 29-0 over the Double-A Gators.
The hometown boys were not without periodic flashes of success, though. Sophomore quarterback Ames Johnson (10) continued to impress with poise in the pocket, this night preferring to keep the ball on the ground, most often in the hands of senior Justin Jameson and junior running back Evan Bennett.
Still, it was never enough to counter the Vikings’ defense. By the half, it was 42-0.
“I told the guys at halftime, it’s one thing to give up a fade down the sideline or a sweep down the sideline where he outruns us, but it’s another thing to just miss a tackle or miss an assignment. We’ve gotta’ correct stuff like that; that just can’t be an issue,” Gatewood head coach Jeff Ratliff said later.
After a couple of possessions that went nowhere for either team once the second half started with running time, Pacelli head coach Dwight Jones pulled his starters in favor of some playing time for his second-string squad. A see-saw series of short drives followed by punts from both sides resulted in a scoreless third quarter, but Gatewood finally put some points on the board in the fourth.
A short punt by Pacelli started the Gators from their own 48, where Bennett took a handoff and ran to the Vikings’ 36-yard line. From there, Jameson eventually secured another first down, then Johnson held on to run out of bounds on the right sideline at the Pacelli 25-yard mark.
Another strong run from Jameson moved the ball to the Vikings’ 8-yard line, where Bennett once more took over, and with a Pacelli defender hanging off his legs and others approaching from both sides, he leaped forward the last couple of yards to break the shutout with 4:41 left on the clock. A good PAT from Daniel left the Gators with a 42-7 final and a 2-3 win-loss record.
“You know, nobody wants to get in a game like that. We were down big at halftime, so our goal was to come out and win the second half. And we met that goal,” Ratliff said. “But those are moral victories and I’m not really into moral victories. But with all due respect to everybody on our schedule, I don’t think we’re gonna see a better team than Pacelli this season. So if we can somehow take some positives from tonight, our offense made a few good plays and the defense got a few stops tonight, which I thought was good.
"We just couldn’t consistently move the ball and get anything going. And then they’re back on the field and they hit you with one of those big, electric plays, and next thing you know, you’re down big. But again, the whole point is trying to get better. So we’re gonna take from this whatever positives we see from the film and we’re gonna throw out the negatives and we’re gonna get ready for Central Fellowship.”
With the expected aftermath of Hurricane Ian arriving from Florida this weekend, Gatewood’s homecoming game has been moved ahead a day to 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Non-region Double AA Central Fellowship Christian Academy from Macon will put its perfect 5-0 record on the line at Sammons Field.