The Gatewood Gators visited Briarwood Academy Friday night in Warrenton, where they fell 22-13 to the hometown Buccaneers.
With 2021 All-State senior running back Justin Jameson “feeling a little under the weather,” Gatewood entered Briarwood’s homecoming game without full use of one of its biggest offensive threats. But head coach Jeff Ratliff stressed that wasn’t the deciding factor.
“Bottom line, we didn’t win the battles up front. And then, when we had opportunities to make big plays, we didn’t, and those were our biggest problems all night long. But no excuses,” Ratliff quickly added. “We just didn’t make the most of our opportunities and (the Buccaneers) did. And hats off to Briarwood; they had a good game plan.”
That game plan apparently meant running the football, as Bucs’ quarterback Eli Bragg made only one passing attempt the entire game.
Briarwood scored its first touchdown late in the opening quarter, but Gatewood’s Evan Bennett successfully blocked the extra-point attempt. The Gators came back with sophomore quarterback Ames Johnson making a nice pass early in the second from about his own 45-yard line to the Buccaneers’ 15, where junior Lawson Wooten made the catch and carried it in to even the score. A point-after kick by junior Jayden Daniel boosted Gatewood to a 7-6 advantage.
The Bucs responded quickly, though, marching straight downfield after kickoff and scoring another touchdown on the ground, followed by a successful 2-point conversion that had them up 14-7 at halftime.
Gatewood kicked deep into Bucs territory to start the second half, and the Briarwood drive then ate up much of the third quarter. It looked like they might replicate their previous touchdown effort until the Gators’ defense stood tall and forced a turnover on downs inside their own 10-yard line.
Johnson went back to work, first airing out a 30-yard pass to John Wallace Thompson, then hitting Lawson Wooten on a drag route before Bennett took the ball on a 40-plus-yards run to just inside the Bucs’ 10 as the third quarter ended.
It was Briarwood’s turn to turn up the defense for the final quarter, forcing the Gators into a fourth-down attempt.
After taking a timeout, Ratliff called for a “wildcat” play, in which running back Bennett took the snap, then threw a short pass to quarterback Johnson, who made the catch for 6 points and drew Gatewood to within one of tying. That marked the end of the Gators’ scoring for the night, though, as a bad snap on the extra-point attempt negated the play.
The Gators did have another stellar opportunity off the ensuing kickoff when the Bucs receiver fumbled near his own goal line. Gatewood had a chance but failed to come up with the ball in yet another of the missed opportunities Ratliff reflected on later.
“We actually had three chances at the end of the game to go down and score and win, but it just didn’t happen,” he said.
With about three minutes left in the game, Johnson was picked off, leading to the Buccaneers’ final touchdown and a successful 2-point conversion to effectively put the game out of reach with a 9-point margin.
After winning the first two games this season, the Gators have dropped their past two, all in non-region play, with six games remaining in the regular schedule.
“The story from Warrenton is that we’re still growing up, but we’re getting there and I’m proud of my team. I’m proud of their fight,” Ratliff said. “They gave me what they had on Friday night and as long as they keep giving me that, we’re good.”
Next on the schedule for the Gators, at 7:30 p.m. at home this Friday, will be the Ste. Anne-Pacelli Vikings (4-1), out of Columbus. Ratliff expects this game against the currently third-ranked GIAA 4A team will be a challenging, but welcome test for his young squad.
“They’re good; they’re well coached; they’ve got a lot of speed, and they’ve got some size to go with it,” Ratliff said of the Vikings, whom the Gators have never played. And you want to schedule against good teams because when the end of the season gets here, you’re gonna be playing good teams in the playoffs. I’m excited about our football team getting to play one of the better teams in our association. And I know we’re all excited about getting to do it at home.”