Gatewood’s regular season came to a somewhat predictable end Friday night in Eatonton, as top-ranked Brentwood (9-1, 5-0) won 48-10 over the hometown Gators (3-7, 2-3).
That placed Gatewood seventh overall to take on the 10th-ranked Heritage Patriots (1-8, 0-5) out of Conyers in a “play-in” playoff game this Friday at home.
The win over Gatewood also meant the War Eagles retained possession of the rivalry’s prized “Whoopin’ Stick” and solidified their standing atop the division.
“Brentwood’s got a very good team,” Gatewood head coach Jeff Ratliff said afterward. “They’re the number-one team in our division, and I see why. There’s not a lot of weak spots in their game.”
That reality hit hard and early. Brentwood scored on its opening drive with a 66-yard run and added the extra point to take an early 7–0 lead. On Gatewood’s first possession, Brentwood forced a punt, then kicked a 42-yard field goal to make it 10–0 midway through the first quarter.
The Gators fumbled on their next possession and Brentwood quickly capitalized with a 34-yard rushing score that stretched the lead to 17–0 at the end of the first quarter.
“Once we got behind early, we just never really recovered,” Ratliff acknowledged. “We gave up some big plays both in the run game and a couple of passes, and that got us behind the chains.”
The second quarter delivered more of the same. War Eagles playmaker Tristan Robinson connected on a long strike to put Brentwood inside the 5-yard line, then punched in a rushing touchdown himself. With the extra point, Brentwood led 24-0, then added a 10-yard scoring run and PAT for a commanding 31–0 lead.
Gatewood briefly found life late in the opening half when senior Ben Brannen electrified the home crowd with a 90-yard kickoff return for a score, then added the two-point conversion himself to finally put the Gators on the scoreboard at 31-8.
“It was a huge return from Ben, pretty sweet, and then he caught the two-point conversion,” Ratliff said. “But we turned around and gave up a kickoff return to them right after that.”
Indeed, Brentwood answered immediately with an 85-yard return of its own, pushing the score to 38-8. A late 37-yard field goal followed to give the War Eagles a 41–8 halftime cushion.
The second half was largely academic. Brentwood added a 40-yard rushing touchdown followed by a PAT late in the third quarter, and though Gatewood managed a short rushing score in the closing minute of the game, but the outcome had already been determined.
Despite the lopsided 48-14 result, Ratliff emphasized his players never stopped competing.
“They played hard,” he said. “We did some good things, but Brentwood’s just a tough team. I’m going to tip my hat to them; they’ve got a lot of offensive weapons and they play a pretty good defensive game, too.”
Ratliff also singled out several Gators for their efforts, despite the defeat.
“I thought Sawyer Adkinson played really well. He had a good game at nose man. Matter of fact, I made him our player of the week,” he said. “Mason [Sinclair] and Colt [Jenkins], too, they made a lot of good tackles. And Ben [Brannen] showed some great signs; he’s a big-play guy for us.”
With the regular season behind them, Ratliff and his Gators can turn their attention to the postseason.
“We get to play here at home Friday night,” Ratliff said. “Based on our season, that’s about as good as we could have hoped for. Our record’s not great, but I still think we’ve got a decent team. And again, our guys play hard.”
In the playoff structure, the top six teams receive first-round byes while seeds 7 through 10 face play-in matchups for the final spots in an eight-team bracket.
Ratliff said the Gators are embracing the challenge.
“We’re in the playoffs,” he said. “You can’t win the whole thing if you’re not in it, so we’ll just take it one game at a time. Our focus has to be on Heritage, and at least we get a chance to be the home team and have our fans out there with us. We just need to be playing at our very, very best.”