For the fifth time in eight years, the Gatewood Gators are going back to the state final.
The Gators prevailed 15-12 over visiting Briarwood Academy last Friday night to earn a rematch with Edmund Burke Academy (EBA) in the championship game on Dec. 1, with kick-off scheduled for 5 p.m. at Mercer University in Macon.
Gatewood head coach Jeff Ratliff called the game against Briarwood “a tough, physical, defensive struggle,” but said he was proud of his team for demonstrating resilience and determination in order to succeed.
“We didn’t do a whole lot offensively, but we did enough,” Ratliff said. “We had two big plays. Hunter (Johnson) had a long run to answer their score in the first quarter, and Ames (Johnson) found Lawson (Wooten) inside the last few seconds of the first half. He got behind them and made that a long touchdown. And that was it for us. The defense tacked on the safety and that was it. But that was enough.”
Gatewood kicked off, then forced Briarwood to punt, but a fumble on the Gators’ first possession gave the ball to the Buccaneers, who promptly scored on a six-yard run, but they missed the extra point.
The Gators responded by returning the ball to midfield before Hunter Johnson scored on a 54-yard run with five minutes left in the first quarter. The Gators also missed their extra point attempt, and at the end of the first quarter, the score was tied at 6-6.
Briarwood was threatening to score again late in the second quarter until senior Evan Bennett made a strong effort to knock down a potential scoring pass.
Eventually, the Bucs were forced to punt and the Gators’ offense took over. A perfect pass by Ames Johnson led to a highlight-reel catch by Wooten that sent him sprinting down the sideline to score with just 23 seconds left in the quarter. Kicker Jayden Daniel added the extra point to give the Gators a 13-6 lead at halftime.
The third quarter turned into a real defensive battle for both teams. With emotions on the rise and the season on the line, referees and coaches from both teams had to step in and calm down the players in the stalemate.
Eventually, the Gators forced Briarwood to punt from its end zone, where defense once more prevailed, as Gatewood blocked the punt and Mason Sinclair stepped up with a tackle in the semifinal for a safety.
With less than three minutes to go in the game, Briarwood finally made it to scoring position with a little help from a holding call against the Gators. The Bucs made it interesting with a touchdown to make it 15-12 with 1:58 left, then tried an onside kick, but Gatewood was ready and recovered the ball.
From there, Gatewood’s primary goal was running time off the clock to secure the win, having the advantage of all their timeouts left, while Briarwood had just one. With 1:08 left, the Buccaneers burned their final timeout.
The next play resulted in a long debate over the call, which led to a final call of a fumble recovered by Briarwood on the Gators’ 41-yard line. With 59 seconds to go, the game then rested on the Gators’ defense – which eventually took over on downs.
With 29 seconds left on the board, the Gators took a knee to end the game and begin preparing for their championship-deciding date this Friday with EBA, which won its semi-final match 35-6 over Southwest Georgia Academy.
Gatewood hosted Edmund Burke in October and fell 20-14 for one of only two losses this season after the Spartans broke a tie with a late fourth quarter touchdown.
“Burke’s got an excellent football team. They’re well coached, they’ve got some athletes, they’re explosive, but we are excited to be playing them,” Ratliff said. “We saw them in the regular season, so we know they’re good, but we felt like we did some things in that game that if we had to do it over again, might’ve made the outcome a little different. So, we feel very fortunate to be playing.
“But make no mistake about it, I feel like my kids have earned the right to be back at Mercer for a chance to be in the state championship game. And to be honest, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, but because we’re playing Burke, the number-one team in the division, we are very excited and looking forward to the matchup. But we don’t really look at revenge,” the coach insisted. “We’re playing for all the marbles and hopefully the best team’s going to win. Hopefully, that’s us.”