CHAPEL HILL COMEBACK DOOMS BUCKEYES | Bulldogs rally from 20 points down to win in Gilmer

GILMER – Gee Is A Whiz.

Chapel Hill Bulldogs quarterback Malik Gee rallied his seemingly doomed dragoons from a stark 20-0 deficit by throwing three touchdowns, then tramping for three more as Chapel Hill garroted Gilmer, 41-26, Friday night.

The terrifying turnabout by the visitors–who played as ferociously as if their very lives depended on voiding Gilmer’s large lead and toting up a titanic triumph–marked the first time in many years (perhaps ever) a Buckeye Brigade had deep-sixed such a sizeable scoring advantage to lose a wargame.

The outcome left Gilmer at 1-1 going into battle next Friday, Sept. 12, at Kilgore, another Godzilla of the Gridiron, which is 1-1, with a loss to No. 1 Carthage in week one, then a beating of Whitehouse, 49-7, on Friday. State-ranked Chapel Hill, meantime, is 2-0 and hosts aforementioned Whitehouse next Friday.

In this weekend’s contest, notable for a pandemic Bubonic plague of penalties against both squads (well more than 100 yards per team!), Gilmer streaked to its massive lead before midway in the second quarter before Gee and his associates sniffed the smelling salts.

A co-conspirator in his feat was receiver Damarcion Blaylock, who accepted Gee’s trio of scoring slings for CH’s first scores. 

In addition, one observer blamed Gilmer’s two turnovers (the Bulldogs suffered one) as playing a seminal role in the hosts’ downfall, while a pressbox observer faulted the Buckeyes’ performance in the kicking game.

On its second possession of the night, Gilmer hopped 56 yards in four plays–abetted by two 15-yard Bulldog penalties–to tally on Tayveon Horne’s 16-yard hoof up the middle. Miguel Castaneda airlifted the PAT kick with 3:18 left in the inaugural quarter.

Then the visitors’ only turnover–a snap from center which sailed over Gee’s head and was recovered by Buckeye Korey (Trey) Lee at the Gilmer 39–eventually led to the hosts’ second TD.

It took them awhile–10 plays, inasmuch as they were hampered by 15 yards in penalties–but Horne blew another sweet note by bursting through the line for a 1-yard TD with 8:26 left to Twirling Time.

After Gilmer was penalized on the conversion for delay of game, quarterback Zade Taylor, who was holder on the PAT kick try, fumbled the snap and unsuccessfully tried running for two points.

Chapel Hill punted, leading to yet another Buckeye Boom–this time with dispatch. The Bucks whizzed 76  yards in only three plays as Taylor wheeled 33 yards to Beulah Land, and Castaneda’s kick made it 20-0 with 6:27 left to intermission.

Although Gilmer would score one more TD in the second half, and things looked deadly dark for Chapel Hill, the Bulldog bounce back really started soon after Taylor’s impressive TD trip.

Chapel Hill made a stupendous kickoff return to the Gilmer 28. On the third play afterward, Gee and Blaylock combined on a 15-yard TD and Estevan Sandoval punched the first of five successful PATs with 5:19 left to intermission. (Sandoval missed only the kick after CH’s second TD).

That would leave it 20-7 at Music Time, and little did anyone know that the visitors would unleash a 34-6 advantage afterward.

Chapel Hill recovered an onside kick at the Gilmer 46 to open the second half–remember that as noted earlier, one pressbox observer had cited Gilmer’s special team woes as impacting the outcome. And the Bulldogs  whistled into TD Town in just five plays as Gee shipped a 20-yarder to Blaylock with 9:55 left in the third.

Suddenly, it’s 20-13 and the ‘Dogs were going to bite again before Gilmer could finally regain its offensive footing momentarily.

Gilmer punted on its next possession, and, helped by a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, Chapel Hill screamed 68 yards in only three plays to hit the jackpot on another Gee fling to Blaylock of 31 yards with 7:30 remaining in the third.

Gilmer suddenly awakened to head into six-point territory itself. Taking the kickoff, the Buckeyes took five plays to roll 63 yards, overcoming a 5-yard penalty en route.

Despite a bad snap, quarterback Taylor pulled off a spectacular 49-yard bomb to Solomon Jackson to reach the Bulldog 1-yard-line before Horne tripped the final yard with 5:16 left in the third. But Castaneda’s PAT was blocked, leaving the hosts up 26-20, and from here on out, Chapel Hill would run the table.

It took a while as Gilmer was penalized on the ensuing kickoff for booting out of bounds, re-kicked, and CH returned it to its 39 only to draw a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the flag-flying officiating crew.

With a flurry of penalties against both teams occurring during this offensive, the Bulldogs finally procured points again as Gee ended a 10-play hike with a 7-yard TD trek. The PAT put CH ahead for the first time, 27-26 with only 59 seconds left in the third.

Then soon came the play that may have obliterated Gilmer’s hopes to regain the upper hand. On the first play after the ensuing kickoff, a Buckeye fumbled to Bulldog Peaira Allen at the Gilmer 34.

Greatly boosted by a 15-yard pass interference penalty against the hosts, CH took but two plays to reach Glory Land as Gee motored eight yards around left end with time expired in the third.

Gilmer punted into the Bulldogs’ end zone on its next possession, and the visitors, again aided by a 15-yard Buckeye penalty, whistled 80 yards in only four plays to come up roses again on Gee’s 1-yard keeper with 9:07 left.

Though the Buckeyes yielded no more points, their offense was somewhat paralyzed the rest of the way and CH even began putting in substitutes on offense when the hosts still had time to come back.

And after watching the visiting quarterback perform proficiently, Gilmer fans were possibly left shaking their heads at the end and muttering to themselves, “Gee whiz.”