DON’T LOOK NOW, BUT… | Gilmer has turned this thing around and it’s full steam ahead

SULPHUR SPRINGS – In some aspects, the Gilmer Buckeyes’ haranguing of the homecoming of the Sulphur Springs Wildcats here Friday night was an anomaly by the astonishing absence of two typical traits of a grid guerrilla game.

Neither team punted as Gilmer stultified Sulphur Springs, 48-38. It is not known whether the punters dozed through the contest in a way that would make Rip Van Winkle appear to be an insomniac.

Neither team committed a turnover. Therefore, the two squads’ defensive coordinators were left to guzzle Alka-Seltzer all evening as both teams scored on virtually all their respective possessions in this Ode to Offense at Gerald Prim Stadium.

Gilmer (3-1), as one press box observer shrewdly observed, developed a second-half successful strategy of an opening onside kick. In addition, Wildcat runner Dobson Martin, who statistics showed frolicked in the first half for more than 100 yards, was somewhat checkmated in the final two quarters (although he did procure points on one touchdown trip, his third of the evening.)

Sulphur Springs, while laudable in its landlubbing in the first half, was plagued by poor execution several times in its less-than-prolific passing program. And one of the two Wildcat TDs after Twirling Time was greatly abetted by penalties against the Buckeyes as much as by their adversaries’ skill.

Meantime, Gilmer quarterback Zade Taylor hoofed for two TDs and heaved a third. Kenneth Neighbors proved anything but a good neighbor to the Wildcats as he caught that TD toss, legged for another TD, and teammate Tayveon Horne tooted sweet music by belting out two scoring trips.

Gilmer grasped an early 7-0 lead and while the hosts staged continual comebacks to hogtie the count at 7-7, 14-14 and 21-21, they led only once, when the Wildcats banged a field goal to forge ahead 24-21 late in the second period.

Gilmer re-seized the advantage at 28-24 by Music Time, however, and made it 41-24 at third quarter’s end, which proved quicksand for the hosts’ prospects of a happy homecoming.

The fray was a Parade of Points from just about the outset.

Gilmer took the opening kickoff and soon reached Beulah Land on Taylor’s short sling to Kipton Neighbors, which turned into a 40-yard score with 10:15 remaining in the inaugural period.

Alan Sanchez airlifted the first of five straight PATs (he’d end up making six of seven for the night, missing only the one after Gilmer’s sixth six-pointer when it clanged the left upright.)

On their first offensive, though, the Wildcats rumbled downfield to Glory Land on Martin’s 5-yard bop. Gael Garcia banged the first of his five successful PATs with 6:18 left in the inaugural period.

Gilmer quickly counter-attacked, striding toward the end zone to tally on behemoth 350-pound runner Ismael Camara’s 4-yard movement with 2:39 still remaining in the first quarter

Right after the second quarter’s opening play, in which the hosts hoisted a 14-yard TD throw from QB Duece Timmons to a wide-open Quin Harris, came a peculiar passage.

For some reason, Sulphur Springs changed kickers for the PAT from Garcia, who’d rammed the first one, to Yanzel Cervantes, who misfired–only to have that negated by a Gilmer penalty. Garcia came back in for the “do-over” and tied the affray at 14-all with 11:54 to go to the Band Break.

But once again, Gilmer’s offense matched the hosts’ as Taylor screamed 14 yards for the next TD with 10:01 left to intermission.

The resilient hosts, though, once again tied it as Martin ingested 20 yards with 9:12 left in the quarter and the PAT made it 21-all.

Then Sulphur Springs recovered an ingenious onside kick, leading to a long offensive that ended with Garcia’s 27-yard field goal with 2:47 left to the midway point. Thus the homecoming hosts gained their first–and last–lead of the night

And the fact they only produced three points instead of seven may well have been a turning point in this Overdrive of Offense.

For Gilmer came back with a Touchdown Thrust as Horne hastened 10 yards on a fourth-down flight with only 32 seconds left in the period, putting his team ahead the rest of the night.

Gilmer’s two unanswered TDs in the third period was also a major factor in confining the Wildcats (1-3) to a zoo.

Joe Dodd, covering the contest for The Gilmer Mirror, prophesied the Buckeyes would open the second half with an onside kick – which they did, and it worked. The visitors owned the ball at the Wildcat 41 and, on the fourth play afterward, Taylor thundered 36 yards on a fourth-down play to TD territory with 10:20 left in the third.

Up 35-24, Gilmer tried another onside kick, which failed, and Sulphur Springs composed a time-devouring drive to the Buckeye 6, where yet another decisive determinant in the outcome occurred.

The Wildcats forsook trying another field goal and instead threw incomplete on fourth down with 6:32 left in the quarter. And now Gilmer would whip downfield to make it a 3-score advantage which the hosts–though they’d score two more TDs–couldn’t surmount.

The offensive featured a lucky break for Gilmer when Horne disgorged a fumble at one point, only to have teammate Taylor retrieve the pigskin and turn the play into a 30-yard gain to the SS 26. On the third play afterward, Neighbors nagged the Wildcats with a 17-yard TD journey to the left with 1:33 left in the third.

Although the PAT kick failed, it was now 41-24 and, while the ‘Cats commendably continued the combat, that deficit was like a planet their rocket simply couldn’t reach.

But, boosted by three Gilmer penalties after starting from its own 37, Sulphur Springs’ next offensive struck “Texas Tea” as Dobson burst into the end zone on a 5-yard roll to the left with 10:20 left in the game. The outcome was still uncertain.

The problem for the hosts, though, was that Gilmer wasn’t busy taxing the scoreboard, either. The Buckeyes took the kickoff and Horne soon sounded a call to arms by hot-footing 35 yards to a tally with 8:48 left.

The PAT made it a 3-score margin again. Sulphur Springs took some minute comfort by coming back yet again on QB Timmons’ 11-yard TD bop with 4:19 left. That slit the lead to just 10 points.

There was still hope for a homecoming hurrah, but – as Dodd pointed out – Gilmer leaned on its running game in the second half. And, after the hosts unsuccessfully kicked onside, the Buckeyes ran out the clock with nothing but land mines, reaching the SS 3 before taking a knee to end the hostilities.

No punts, no turnovers, and, on this night, no Homecoming Happiness for the Sulphur Springs Wildcats.