With heavy hearts, the Gatewood Gators visited Piedmont Academy in Monticello last Friday, where they won 36-18 in memory of Dawn Sinclair, who lost her long battle against cancer just two days earlier.
Dawn saw three sons play for the Gators, including junior Mason Sinclair, who suited up and played “an outstanding game” for his team against the Cougars, according to Gatewood head coach Jeff Ratliff.
“His dad was at the game Friday night, and the other brothers were, too, but if he wouldn’t have played, I would’ve perfectly understood,” Ratliff said. “I told Mason that if he wanted to take two weeks off, three weeks, whatever he wanted he could do. And if he wanted to play Friday night, he was going to play Friday night, so he did play. But yeah, it was an emotional week. Then you throw in that it’s Piedmont and region rivals, it was a tough atmosphere.”
Piedmont scored first, with 7:23 left in the opening quarter, but Gatewood’s Ames Johnson caught the ensuing kickoff deep in Gators’ territory and returned it for an 89-yard touchdown just 19 seconds later on the clock. After Jayden Daniel kicked the extra point, the score was tied at 7 when the quarter ended.
The first play of the second quarter, though, delivered a field goal just a few seconds in to make it 10-7 for the Cougars.
Ratliff said the Gators were having trouble finding their game and it looked like they were about to get scored on again when Sean Harvey stepped up in the endzone with an interception. However, when Harvey started to run, the ball was knocked loose, and Piedmont recovered it in the endzone for a safety and a 12-7 advantage on the scoreboard.
Gatewood’s fortunes took a positive turn midway through the second quarter when Ben Brannen picked off another Piedmont pass at his 44-yard line and ran it to the opposition’s 36-yard line. That drive eventually led to a 2-point safety scored by Brannen on a fourth-down, goal-line play, followed by a five-yard rushing touchdown by Johnson with 23 seconds to go in the half.
Once the extra point was tacked on by Daniel, Gatewood took a 16-12 lead into halftime.
“It was a frustrating first half in the fact that there were a lot of penalties and a lot of miscues. I don’t have the official number in front of me, but the first half I think ended well after 9 o’clock. I mean, it was late, a very long first half,” Ratliff recalled.
Hunter Johnson scored next for the Gators with a 25-yard run at 7:13 of the third quarter and Jackson Hewatt added another touchdown, catching an 11-yard pass from Ames Johnson with a minute left in the quarter. Gatewood went into the final quarter leading 29-12 after missing the extra point once.
“Then that last one (touchdown) is the one I was proud of,” Ratliff said. “We’re going to end up going on an 89-yard drive. I don’t remember exactly how many plays it was, but we finished it off with Ames (Johnson) going on a six-yard touchdown run with just under six minutes left.”
Daniel got the job done once more, too, to reach the 36-18 final.
“It was a tough night, and it took us a while to get going, but it all worked out okay,” Ratliff said. “Our prayers go out to the Sinclair family and we all appreciate them so much and what Dawn meant to this team.”
Gatewood (7-2) will be at home this Friday, hosting the Brentwood War Eagles (5-4) at 7:30 p.m. in another GIAA Region 2 meeting.