GAINESVILLE, Ga. — For all the talk of the Gainesville offense coming into the 2023 season, the Red Elephants' defense, especially over the final minute, was the ultimate difference-maker Friday night against Marist.
Defensive linemen Julius Columbus, Champ Thompson, and Marshall Leonard helped a reworked unit record five sacks and eight tackles-for-loss and held the powerful Marist triple-option to just 166 yards rushing (184 total yards) in a 34-26 Gainesville win at City Park to open the 2023 season.
"We came into this game ready to hit them, stop the triple-option, stop the pass, and win the game for us," said Columbus, who had one of two sacks in the final minute as the War Eagles had one last drive to try and tie the game. "We don't have 1s, 2s, and 3s on this unit. Everybody is a 1. Everybody is going to get playing time. This group can be really good."
"We talked about the right to be able to rush the passer by being really good on first and second down," Gainesville coach Josh Niblett said about his defense. "On that last drive, we made them have to go 80 yards, and we were able to rush the passer. Julius and Champ, Z(arion) Harvey, all those guys played really well."
Harvey helped turn the game around in the first half after Marist had taken an 18-14 lead late in the second quarter.
Following a 4-yard touchdown run by Trevian Watson to finish an 8-play drive in two minutes for a 21-18 lead, Harvey, on the ensuing kickoff, ripped the ball straight from the grasp of Walker Richens and returned it 20 yards for a touchdown and a 28-18 lead with 32 seconds left in the half.
"That was a big play for us. A great play by Z," Niblett said. "Those last couple of minutes (of the first half) is probably what won us the game."
It was a back-and-forth first half as Gainesville jumped out to a 14-3 lead in the first quarter on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Baxter Wright to Eric Hart to cap an 80-yard opening drive. On their next drive, they broke out their new running back Gavin Hall, who electrified the crowd with a nifty 38-yard touchdown run.
"Gavin has never played running back. He's a patient (runner) and does a really good job exploding and accelerating. I'm just proud of the progress he's made," Niblett said.
Hall would finish with 203 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries in his first start for the Red Elephants.
Marist did not go away. The War Eagles stormed back as Richens capped an 11-play drive that chewed up more than six minutes with a 5-yard TD scamper to get within 14-11 after a 2-point conversion. After stopping the Gainesville defense for the first time, the War Eagles struck quickly as Joseph Pizzo took a pitch left, cut back right, and outraced the Red Elephants' defense for a 42-yard touchdown run to grab an 18-14 lead.
But after the two-minute blitz to end the half, Gainesville never trailed again.
Gainesville dominated the first-half stats with 269 yards of offense to just 117 for the War Eagles.
Gainesville opened up a 34-18 lead midway through the third quarter when Wright and Hart connected for a second time on a 10-yard TD pass.
It stayed that way until Marist quarterback Jack Euart pulled the War Eagles within 34-26 on a 40-yard touchdown run and a 2-point run with just over four minutes left.
With Gainesville looking to put the finishing touches in the final minute, Marist picked off a Wright pass in the end zone with just under a minute left to get one last chance.
But Columbus and Leonard Marshall denied the War Eagles any late-game magic, each sacking Euart on the final drive, with Columbus sealing it on fourth down deep inside their own territory.
Wright finished 21-of-28 for 214 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 interception. Hart had 6 catches for 67 yards and 2 TDs, and Watson finished with 8 catches for 58 yards for Gainesville.
