BUCKEYE BEAT | By PHILLIP WILLIAMS – Gilmer can’t get out of Pirate-land, turns focus to Chapel Hill

LONGVIEW – According to an arcane anecdote, a schoolmarm once opined that if reincarnation really existed, she pined to return as a pine tree.

Her students, it was reported, had avowed that their aspiration was to be revivified as chain saws!

‘Twas the No. 9-ranked Gilmer Buckeyes’ same aim here Thursday night in their 2026 season inaugural against the Pine Tree Pirates, but Pirate QB Colton Croft disarmed the visitors from dismembering his team by heaving three TDs and hoofing for another in a gunslinging ode to offense, 52-40.

The hosts hopped to a 7-0 lead, scoring on the fray’s third play from scrimmage, and after Gilmer knotted the count at 7-7, PT took the lead for the rest of the elongated 3-hour, 5-minute scorefest, which featured a bevy of Big Bang tallies. PT was up 35-14 at one point in the first half, but saw Gilmer whittle the count to 38-34 in the third quarter before pulling away.

The scoreboard partly malfunctioned much of the night and didn’t even display the score until late in the second quarter, but the scoring itself–especially before Twirling Time, when the Pirates prevailed 38-27–was as fast and furious as a California wildfire.

While performing respectably overall, Gilmer was gashed by abrasions in its aviational aptitude. Not only did its defense surrender the aforementioned trio of touchdown tosses, but the Pirate defenders purloined four flings off Gilmer QB Zade Taylor, returning one to Beulah Land.

Pine Tree didn’t punt until the second half. And ironically, considering its success among the airwaves earlier, its final TD offensive–an elongated one which pretty well cinched the outcome–consisted of nothing but landlubbing.

After PT took the opening kickoff to its 34, the Buckeyes got off to a seeming harbinger of success by holding the hosts to two yards on one running play and no gain on the next.

Then, suddenly, (as an old saying goes), the sweet milk turned to clabber for Gilmer as Croft uncorked a 64-yard scoring sling to Rashaad Wofford. Danny Barron airlifted the first of his seven successful PATs with 10:20 left in the first period.

Gilmer’s Rapid Response team quickly evened things up on Tayveon Horne’s 3-yard romp with 9:40 left in the period, followed by Alan Sanchez banging the first of three straight successful PATs (he would misfire on the fourth).

Croft, however, exhibited his assault arm once again as he dispatched a 27-yard TD to Bosston Johnson (yes, it is spelled Bosston) in the end zone with 5:25 left in the first.

Then came what may well have been the game’s turning point as Pirate Darron Pair filched a fling from Taylor and returned it 54 yards for a TD with 2:53 still remaining in the first quadrant.

Gilmer punched the Rapid Response button again with a show-stopper when Jerzyri Johnson returned the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to tally with 2:38 left in the wooly opening period.

Thus, Gilmer pulled within 21-14 only to behold Pirate runner Ja’Karius Timmons trip three yards to Glory Land with no time left on the clock in the first period.

And the Buckeyes would find themselves in even more peril when PT’s Jordan Jackson swiped a Taylor throw, setting up the hosts at the Gilmer 33, and eventually leading to Croft cruising three yards for the next TD with 4:46 left to Music Time.

Down 35-14, the stubborn Buckeyes, however, would not hoist the white flag. They rebounded with alacrity on another breathtaking play as Taylor escaped 60 yards, the last part of it down the right sideline, to procure points with 3:50 left to intermission.

Barron conked a 29-yard field goal with 1:37 left in the half, making it 38-21, only to have Taylor tailor a TD trot of two yards with time expired.

The scoring quietened somewhat after that, but each team still had two TDs to post on the sometimes-operational scoreboard.

Having trailed at one point by 21, Gilmer would pull within four when Horne hustled 15 yards to score on a possession in which Taylor exited the game for a time with an injury.

Sanchez’s kick made it 38-34 with 8:19 left in the third and Buckeye backers hoped a colossal comeback was forthcoming.

But Croft would zip a 12-yard TD to Jakaiden Johnson with 5:52 left in the third before Gilmer could intrude into the PT end zone again on Horne’s 8-yard hop with 8:27 left in the fray. Taylor’s pass for two points failed, but the Buckeyes were still in the ring, down only 45-40.

That, however, is when the hosts launched their all-on-the-ground, time-devouring 48-yard touchdown trek, abetted by a 10-yard Gilmer penalty. Jakaiden Johnson ingested the final two yards with 2:32 left.

Some years ago, a pair of singers named Seals and Crofts made a splash in the rock music world. And on this night, a guy named Croft had helped his Pine Tree Pirates seal the Gilmer Buckeyes in Davy Jones’ Locker.