PUTNAM COUNTY
“We did what we needed to.”
That was the assessment of head coach Jeff Ratliff on the performance of his Gatewood Gators last Friday after a 20-13 victory over Southland Academy in Americus.
“We didn’t execute or play our best football on the offensive side, and we had some penalties on the defensive side, but when you put the whole thing together, it still was a great Friday night,” Ratliff said. “It was a great win again against a good-quality team and we needed that. That’s one of those wins that I think can help you moving forward.”
After blowing out Trinity Christian and Augusta Prep in their first two outings this season, 35-0 and 62-6, respectively, Ratliff said he actually welcomed a closer, tighter game for his team.
“I mean, you’re not going to get those blowout games every night out. You’re going to be in some dog fights if you’re going to win a championship,” the coach pointed out. “And we were in a dog fight Friday night. Hostile environment, a tough place to play … but the reason it’s a tough place to play is because usually the team you’re playing is pretty darn good. And Southland didn’t disappoint. They were a good team.”
Gatewood got the scoring going about four minutes into the opening quarter with a passing play followed by a successful PAT and held a 7-0 lead into the second quarter.
Southland responded with a one-yard rushing score just two minutes into the second quarter but was unable to tack on the extra point. Both teams battled to a draw the rest of the half and finished with a 7-6 score favoring the Gators.
Once play resumed, the Raiders earned a rushing touchdown five minutes into the third quarter, followed up by the extra point to take over with a 13-7 lead.
Undaunted, the Gators responded with a touchdown and an extra point of their own to retake the lead at 14-13 shortly before the third quarter ended.
In the final quarter, Gatewood kicker Jayden Daniel pinned the Raiders deep in their own end, “and then we stuffed ‘em,” Ratliff said.
“We sacked ‘em; they had a penalty. We had them on third or fourth and very, very long, and Evan (Bennett) picked the ball off and ran it all the way down to the one, but we had a blindside block called on the runback, which pushed us back,” he continued.
“So, we took over with four or five minutes to go in the game and we stuck it in and that’s when we had a decision to make. We were up seven (20-13) at that point, and the decision was, do we want to go ahead and go for two and end it, meaning there’s really no way the other team could win? Or do we want to go up eight and still give them some hope?”
Ratliff and his Gators went for the two-point conversion – and actually made it – but they were called for an illegal formation.
“So hardheaded me said we’re going to go for it again,” Ratliff said. “And we didn’t get it, so that’s how it works. Fortunately, that was pretty much the end of the game, so they didn’t even get a chance to come back on us.”
Ratliff said he was particularly pleased with how Gatewood’s defense held up all night. He acknowledged a couple of third-down conversions that extended a couple of Southland drives but remained encouraged by his team’s effort and physicality.
He was a little more frustrated by mistakes on the offensive side of the ball.
“It wasn’t that we didn’t move the ball, but we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot,” Ratliff said. “We would fumble it; I want to say we fumbled three or four times and turned the ball over. And that really, to be honest, that just kept them in the game. It was our inability to go ahead and finish some things off.”
However, the coach did reserve praise for his special teams’ play.
“Lawson (Wooten) and Jayden (Daniel) did an outstanding job kicking, and again, (quarterback) Ames (Johnson) did a great job when the protection broke down, he scrambled around. He had a lot of those scramble yards, which he usually does.
“And the defense was fantastic all around. Evan Bennett was really good, he’s our linebacker, but Blake Callaway from a defensive end standpoint put pressure on him all night. And Mason Sinclair, the other linebacker, played great. I mean, as a unit, all of them were good. Gage (Rainey) and Luke (McNeill), I mean, again, I thought as a unit we played well and then the secondary did what they needed to do.”
Gatewood faces the 2-1 Briarwood Academy Buccaneers at 7:30 p.m. this Friday at home on Sammons Field in Eatonton. The Gators won’t play at home again until Oct. 13 against Fullington Academy.