The Gatewood Gators added another easy win Friday night, beating the visiting Augusta Prep Day Cavaliers 62-6 at Sammons Field in Eatonton.
On the Gators’ first possession, after the Cavs were forced to punt from their own 48-yard line, Gatewood quarterback Ames Johnson caught the kick but immediately handed off the ball to fellow junior Jackson Hewatt, who streaked down the left sideline for a touchdown.
On the Gators’ next possession, Johnson scrambled from the Cavaliers’ 45-yard line and ran the distance down the left side for a touchdown. Senior running back Evan Bennett was next up for Gatewood as he turned on the jets for a similar run down the right side to the Augusta end zone.
Augusta was unable to mount much of a defense against the bigger and faster home team and Gatewood was on the verge of scoring again while leading 27-0 at the end of the opening quarter.
When play resumed for the second quarter inside the Cav’s 5-yard line at the opposite end of the field, Bennett took a shotgun snap in the wildcat on fourth down, but Augusta Prep managed to stop it.
They were then able to mount their most successful drive of the night, making it down to the Gator’s 32-yard line before Hewatt picked off a pass from Cavs freshman quarterback Carter Chavous. In a sense of déjà vu, Hewatt again broke away down the left side and went the distance for a score.
The half ended 41-0 in Gatewood’s favor and Bennett added another rushing touchdown early in the second half before Gators head coach Jeff Ratliff pulled his starter in favor of his number-two units finishing out the game.
“The good thing was that first quarter when it started snowballing, we were explosive and all of a sudden one touchdown turned into four and they couldn’t get it back. And I mean, we couldn’t take our foot off the gas in the first half and then second half everything that could happen, happened,” Ratliff said later. “I was telling our guys at the end of the game, though, to the naked eye, people think that those things, they happen just because we’re just in the right place, right time. But we work on things like that and it’s good to see it show up in the game.”
Luke McNeill also scored on the ground for Gatewood in the third quarter, as did backup quarterback Ben Brannen, who broke a couple of tackles to run more than 30 yards down the right side to notch the Gators’ final score on the night. Gatewood kicker Jayden Daniel enjoyed an excellent outing, too, going 8-for-9 in extra-point attempts.
“Very proud of my team’s effort, proud of the younger guys,” Ratliff said after the game. “When they got in there again, they had had some quality reps, and they need to see those reps. It really helps a lot.”
After two relatively easy wins to start the season, Ratliff said he’s most encouraged so far with his team’s willingness to stick with the program, to continue doing what’s right even after it becomes obvious a win is in the works.
“We took some lessons from game one (a 35-0 win over Trinity Christian), and we got better at them. Now we’ve got to keep doing that, regardless of the score. We have got to keep getting better. We know as we get on down the stretch, we’re going to see some really, really good football teams and we’ve got to be ready.”
Next up for the Gators is a trip to Americus this Friday to take on the 2-1 Southland Academy Raiders, coming off a 14-7 win over Westfield.
“We just started playing Southland three years ago. We beat them the first time, then they beat us down at their place when we went for two at the end of the game and didn’t make it. So they beat us by one,” Ratliff recalled. “And then last year they came over here and jumped out to a big lead. But we came back, and I think we lost by two points or something like that (35-33 final). So I’m expecting a good ball game. I know Coach Murray down there; he does a good job with his crew.”
Gatewood’s next home game starts at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 15 versus Briarwood Academy, also undefeated after two games so far this season and coming off a bye week when they arrive in Eatonton.