ATHENS, Ga. — If Friday night’s 24-7 win over Clarke Central is any indication, Class 6A may have to be more wary of the Gainesville defense than the Red Elephants’ potent offense.
After allowing an 84-yard opening drive touchdown, the Gainesville defense held the Gladiators to 8 yards over their final 12 drives and just 92 total yards for the game.
The Class 6A second-ranked Red Elephants (4-0) produced 15 plays of zero or negative yards, including 7 sacks and 11 TFL. Clarke Central’s Corey Watkins Jr., who came in averaging 178 yards/game on the ground, was held to just 30 yards on 13 carries, with six rushes going for negative yards.
Gladiators quarterback Riley Berrong finished 7-of-16 for 55 yards and 1 TD.
“We didn’t play very physical at the beginning but when they decided to play physical they were very good,” Gainesville coach Josh Niblett said. “They were relentless on their rush and we were good on the backend also. We talk about earning the right to rush the passer and they did that.”
The defensive effort was much-needed as the Gainesville offense got bogged down several times by penalties and negative plays of its own against a spirited Clarke Central defense.
“We’re going to need to play good defense because there are going to be nights like tonight, where we just continuously shot ourselves in the foot on offense with penalties,” Niblett said.”We have to do a better job of that on offense of not making those mistakes.”
It was a rough start for the Gainesville offense. The Red Elephants were forced to punt after a crazy opening drive that saw them get to the Gladiators 36 only to get pushed back by a penalty and a sack. They fumbled on the first play of the second possession, and then were stopped on downs on their third.
Class 5A 10th-ranked Clarke Central (2-1) took its first drive 84 yards in seven plays, capped by a 7-yard TD pass from Berrong to Jamarion Davis. After that, the Red Elephants defense began to take control. They held the Gladiators to minus-15 yards over their next five drives of the half, including eight plays of zero or negative yards.
The Red Elephants finally got a positive on offense on their fourth drive when Gavin Hall exploded for a 47-yard touchdown run to tie the game early in the second quarter. Gainesville took its first lead late in the half, 14-7, when Baxter Wright found Sky Niblett on a 14-yard touchdown pass with 45 seconds to go. It was set up by a 55-yard strike from Wright to Travien Watson to the Gladiators 18.
John White added a 36-yard field goal near the end of the third quarter.
Hall finished with 124 yards and 2 TDs on 17 carries. He sealed the win with a 39-yard scoring run early in the fourth. It was his fourth 100-yard game of the season.
“They were playing us tough early but we looked at the film and made some adjustments,” Hall said. “It’s great to get 100-yard games and contribute but I don’t care if I don’t touch the ball as long as we win. But this is a fun group to play with and I don’t think we’ve come anywhere near what we’re capable of doing.”
The win was Gainesville’s 14th straight in the regular season, the longest since the Blake Sims days from 2007-09 (23 straight regular season wins).
The Red Elephants open their Region 8-6A schedule next week against Apalachee at City Park.
