FINALLY! | Gilmer gets a win, and the Buckeyes are starting over: they’re 1-0 (in district), all that matters | Analysis by PHILLIP WILLIAMS

GILMER — For the perennially powerful Gilmer Buckeyes, 2025 had definitely not been a halcyon hoorah as they were interred in four of their first five frays, entering Friday night’s wargame as underdog against their erstwhile arch-rival Pittsburg Pirates at Jeff Traylor Stadium.

The Pirates, who have at least two former Gilmer coaches on their staff, carted a gleaming 4-1 record onto the battlefield as opposed to the Buckeyes’ lowly 1-4. 

But this opening District Dustup (7 4-A Division II) was Taylor-made for a turnaround.

Buckeye quarterback Zade Taylor hurled three TDs and hoofed for another as his team put the kabosh on an uncharacteristic four-game losing streak and Gilmer poleaxed the Pittsburg Pirates, 36-25, in the squads’ opening District Disputation.

The game was not uneventful, featuring several turnovers (beginnning on the opening play from scrimmage), and what several Gilmer fans viewed not only as a subpar performance by their special teams personnel in defending on kicks, but controversial officiating.

Meantime, though, the Buckeyes “Black Flag Defense” largely thwarted Pirate QB Kord Johnson, repeatedly throwing him for losses and preventing completion of several long throws he continually bombarded into the Gilmer end zone’s left side. 

Gilmer football stastician Joe Dodd, who pointed out how often Pittsburg failed to tally after getting near Gilmer’s goal line, was tracking how the Buckeyes had an astounding advantage in total yardage in the earlier part of the game. Yet the hosts traiiled 7-0, then led only 14-7 at Twirling Time before pulling away in the aftermath.

Things started off-key for the Buckeyes, though, as they took the opening kickoff and, on the very first play from scrimmage from the Gilmer 25, Pirate Na’Kaidrien Chalmers puloined a pass from Taylor at that yard-stripe and returned it to the 18.

The visitors, however, couldn’t produce a first down and Gilmer’s Korey “Trey” Lee blocked Alan Ramirez’s 36-yard field goal try.

On the third play after the hosts then lost the pigskin on downs at the Pitt  43, the Pirates suddenly “shivered their timbers” as Johnson uncorked a 43-yard TD throw to Cam Doddy. Ramirez airlifted the PAT with 7:16 left in the inaugural quadrant, but Pittsburg wouldn’t lead again.

Gilmer tied it on its next offensive with a methodical 13-play,75-yard movement abetted by two 5-yard Pirate penalties. Taylor rolled right and zipped a 6-yard scoring sling to Solomon Jackson for the tally, afore Miguel Castaneda bonged the first of his four PATs with 2:54 still left in the first.

Pitt reached the hosts’ 18, but Johnson lost back to the 22 before ceding the ball on downs with an incompletion. Then early in the second quarter, Gilmer’s Christopher Pinkney filched a fling at Pittsburg’s 35, only to soon see Taylor hurl his second interception in the visitors’ end zone to Kevin Johnson.

But on the Buckeyes’ next possession, they steamed 66 yards in 12 plays, surmounting a 15-yard penalty along the way before Tayveon Horne romped four yards up the middle to Beulah Land with but 34 seconds left to intermission.

And then, much as the first half had quickly featured a Big Bang (interception), so did the second see a wow to begin — two of them, in fact.

Gilmer pooched the kickoff, which the visitors returned from their 41 to the Buckeye 2.

But on the very next play, Gilmer’s Tyler Hagler stole the ball (considered a fumble) from Johnson and ran a considerable distance before being downed. Gilmer retrained possession despite drawing a penalty on the play back to its 42.

That play may well have been the game-changer as Gilmer promptly commenced a six-play travelogue to TD Town.

The Big Blow came when Johnson loosed a 35-yard tally to Trace Haynes with 9:48 left in the third. Gilmer then ran the swinging gate on the conversion and Horne ran for the pair of points, making it 22-7.

The Buckeye special teams unit faltered again when the Pirates returned the ensuing kickoff from two yards deep in their end zone to the Gilmer  33. Aided by a 15-yard Buckeye penalty, the visitors swooped into the end zone in only two plays on Johnson’s 19-yard airmail package to Seven (yes, it’s spelled Seven) Duffey.

But with 9:12 left in the third, Gilmer blocked Ramirez’ PAT kick, leaving it 22-13–a two-score deficit.

And it only worsened for the favored team although Gilmer botched the reception of the ensuing kickoff, fumbling it out of bounds at the hosts’ 2. 

To Pittsburg’s dismay, the Buckeyes inched 98 yards, even overcoming a 6-yard penalty, to change the scoreboard again on Taylor’s 11-yard zip to Jackson. This came with 4:09 left in the third.

Pittsburg wouldn’t quit, returning the kickoff to midfield and reaching Gilmer’s 5 before finally ceding the ball on downs at the 9. Pittsburg later reached the Buckeye 1, only to have to surrender the pigskin on downs again with 6:46 left in the game.

The battle’s final 4:18 would feature a flurry of scoring.

Gilmer had had to punt, and once again the kicking game kicked Gilmer in the keesters as Cam Doddy returned the boot 52 yards for a TD to narrow the deficit to 29-19. (The Gilmer Mirror reports that Gilmer thought Doddy had signaled for a fair catch on the play).

Johnson fumbled the snap on the 2-point conversion try and failed in his attempted bop for two points with 4:18 left.

Pittsburg’s onside kick failed, and on only the third play afterward, Taylor ripped two yards for Gilmer’s last TD with 3:24 remaining, making it 36-19 and virtually settling the outcome.

Yet the Pirates rumbled back with a 77-yard TD trek in which Johnson sneaked the final yard with 1:54 left before his run for points failed. An onside kick failed, allowing Gilmer to run out the clock.

And thus did the Jolly Roger ship plummet on this night to ocean’s bottom, where the buccaneers were consigned to Davy Jones’ locker. And, as Mafia-type terminology might have put it, they were consigned to sleep with the fishes.