With a three-game winning streak in hand, but after three idle weeks due to the effects of Hurricane Helene on its schedule, Gatewood opened region play last Friday against Briarwood in Warrenton, where the hometown Buccaneers handed a 29-6 loss to the visiting Gators.
The win left Briarwood undefeated (6-0, 1-0), while Gatewood evened up its record (3-3, 0-1) for the season.
“I would tell you, with all the time off, we should have been prepared instead of going the other way, and it probably did have something to do with [the loss], but hats off to Briarwood. They played hard; they beat us; and I mean, 29 to 6 and it probably was about as bad as it sounds,” Ratliff said of his team’s most significant margin of loss in over a year. “But two of our turnovers were inside their 30 [yard line], so if we take advantage a couple of times, who knows?”
Briarwood led 8-6 at halftime after Gatewood failed to duplicate the home team’s two-point conversion following Gators quarterback Ames Johnson’s four-yard carry for a touchdown late in the second quarter.
“It looked like he was in from our vantage point, but [the officials] said he wasn’t,” Ratliff recalled of the extra points try. “But we had other chances, too; we can’t blame it on that.”
In his weekly post-game email to parents and fans, Ratliff said the game was “very physical " but did not blame the loss on that, either.
“Offensively, we turned the ball over too many times, and we did not finish drives when we had the opportunity. We left points on the field instead of putting them on the scoreboard,” he stated.
“Defensively, we had trouble stopping their running game, but when we did stop it, we gave up big plays that bailed them out.”
Regardless, the Gators' focus is now firmly fixed on the arrival of Edmund Burke Academy (6-1, 1-1) this Friday. The Spartans, fresh off a 48-7 region win over Thomas Jefferson Academy, lost 28-23 to Brentwood the week prior.
Ratliff pointed out that Edmund Burke runs a spread-style offense but remains “very balanced.”
Defensively, he said the Spartans try to force the issue with pressure by moving their front and sending linebackers. “Their line of scrimmage is solid, and their skill players are fast,” he said.
Regardless, Ratliff remains convinced his Gators can win any game.
“I like to think that our program is at the stage where we should be able to compete with anybody, regardless,” he said. “And we’ve got another tough one coming up.
We’re running a little gauntlet here where we got Briarwood, Edmund Burke, and Brentwood, and I would challenge anybody in our division to have three tougher games in a row.
“But the only way you deal with them is one at a time, and we lost the first one,” he acknowledged. “But we can’t sit here and complain, or we won’t be ready for the next one. We’ve just got to be ready for Edmund Burke on Friday. No excuses.”
Ratliff also pointed out that since Helene's arrival precluded Gatewood’s official Homecoming game, its Homecoming queen will be crowned at halftime during this week’s game in Eatonton.