GILMER SHOOTS DOWN THE ROUGHRIDERS | Center falls, 67-29 | BUCKEYE BEAT by Phillip Williams

CENTER – The spectacle staged here Thursday night by the Gilmer Buckeyes and Center Roughriders would have been worthy of being depicted as a synergy of scripts from a Stephen King novel, The Twilight Zone and a Cecil B. DeMille der Anblick.

Gilmer, smarting from its unsettling upset by the Pittsburg Pirates the prior week, and the winless Roughriders combined for three touchdowns – two of them on kickoff returns! – in the wargame’s first 79 seconds before the Buckeyes advanced from being tied 7-7 to a first-half blitzkrieg, leading 55-7 at Twirling Time before finally capsizing Center, 67-29.

Up next: a home game versus the Carthage Bulldogs, who have won the last two 4A, Division II state championships, but they’ve won so many (11 at last count) that it feels like they’ve won them all consecutively.

Back to Center.

Beginning with the opening kickoff, this one featured a bevy of Big Bangs, including Gilmer being in the midst of seemingly returning a Center turnover for a TD, only to have the bill stripped for a touchback around the hosts’ 1-yard line instead.

Somewhat surprisingly, the clock did not run unstopped in the second half and, with Gilmer workhorse running back Tayveon Horne not touching the ball after being injured last week, the Buckeyes featured players in somewhat starring roles they don’t normally play. 

That nonetheless produced a top-heavy holocaust for the hosts, who faltered to 0-8 overall, 0-3 in District 8-4A Division II Dustups, while Gilmer surged to 6-2, 2-1 in conference clashes.

Another unusual aspect of the contest was that, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, it was moved back to 6:30 p.m. Thursday due to a shortage of officials, although the two schools are roughly 90 miles apart and it was a school night, at least for Gilmer.

The officials who did work this exactly 3-hour extravaganza (including an 89-minute first half!) apparently had been misinformed that Flag Day had been moved from June 14 yearly to Oct. 22. They called a mammoth total of roughly 20 penalties, and one wag in the press box quipped one penalty had been called for “excessive scoring.”

In all candor, it almost seemed like every play in the game resulted in a touchdown or a penalty as the combatants combined for 14 TDs (although three of Center’s four came well after the Buckeyes had pronounced the last rites for the Roughriders).

Leading Gilmer’s offensive charge, before he left the contest in the third quarter, was QB Zade Taylor, who heaved two TDs to Kaden Canady and hoofed for another score. Seven other Buckeyes scored six-pointers.

For Center, QB Joseph Mitchell launched two tallies to Christyce Barnes while workhorse runner Jaysis Villegas legged two TDs and a two-point conversion. 

Gilmer’s triumph propelled the Buckeyes into a Major Match against No. 1-ranked district adversary, almighty Carthage, in Gilmer next Friday. 

The Bulldogs, who routinely win state championships (including last year) and were once Gilmer’s nemesis, likely remember how the Buckeyes abruptly snuffed their 29-game winning streak in the playoffs three years ago, and will be out for enough blood to supply a thousand transfusions.

Carthage was unconquered going to the war zone Friday night (Oct. 23) against Pleasant Grove, a right good outfit itself, which Gilmer narrowly nicked, 33-27, just before its pratfall against Pittsburg.

But back to Thursday’s Center of Attention. Offbeat, stupefying and breathtaking from the get-go at Roughrider Stadium.

Center kicked off to start the contest, only to have to repeat the process due to a penalty for booting the ball out of bounds. And that immediately proved calamitous for the hosts.

Buckeye Jerzyri Johnson returned it 80 yards to Beulah Land and kicker Alan Sanchez airlifted the first of his seven straight PATs with 11:46 left in the inaugural period. (Gilmer used other kickers on its last three TDs, all unsuccessfully).

Then, on the second play after the Buckeyes kicked off, Center QB Joseph Mitchell zipped a 47-yard TD bomb to Christyce Barnes, and the first of Oswaldo Reyes’ three PATs tied it with 10:50 to go in the opening quadrant. (Center ran for two points after its third TD).

The hosts’ happiness would have a short life span, though, since Gilmer was about to unleash 48 straight points, beginning with the next play: Avian Phillips’ incredible 49-yard return of Center’s onside kick with 10:41 still left in the quarter.

Center soon puddled the rug again as Gilmer’s Carlos Brooks purloined a pass from Mitchell, and seemingly returned it for a touchdown, only to have the score–but not the interception itself–voided by a penalty.

On the second play afterward, though, Taylor flung a 17-yard scoring sling to Kaden Canady with 7:13 yet remaining in the first period.

The Buckeyes’ bombardment continued on Taylor’s 9-yard bop with 39 seconds still left in that seemingly endless initial quarter, putting Gilmer up 28-7 going into the second period.

And if Center thought things were bleak already, the Roughriders’ ride was about to become much rougher in the second period when Gilmer would outscore them 27-0.

First, Aiden Thomas whizzed 20 yards to TD Town with 8:53 left to intermission. Soon, Taylor dispatched a 23-yard touchdown toss to Canady with 6:58 remaining.

Soon came a dumbfounding play where a Roughrider caught a pass, and had the ball stripped from him by a Buckeye, who appeared to be returning it for a TD until he was ruled to have fumbled the pigskin out of bounds short of the goal line. Thus, the touchback gave Center possession at its 20.

But the visitors atoned for that as runner Kipton Neighbors soon hot-footed 18 yards for another six-pointer with 2:25 left to the break, and another Buckeye carrier, Landon Wallace, screamed 39 yards to procure the half’s last tally with 1:29 remaining.

Substitute kicker Ismael Camara missed the PAT, and at half’s end, the game’s PA announcer told others in the press box he was not going to announce the score.

But despite being that hopelessly behind–not to mention winless–Center commendably blew onto the field for the second half and actually outscored the visitors, 22-12.

Villegas trooped nine yards to TD Terrain with 8:30 left in the third, and three yards to another score with 2:04 to go in that quarter. Reyes’ kick was ruled no good, but a Gilmer penalty voided that, so Center went for two and Villegas obtained that conversion to make it 55-22.

This laudable comeback took a setback, though, when backup Gilmer QB Ty Stephenson loosed a 36-yard long-distance touchdown to Judson Dorsett with 11:13 left in the affray. Another backup kicker, Adrian Gorostieta’s, PAT attempt was blocked.

Center rebounded, though, with its Last Hurrah as Mitchell and Barnes, who had hooked up on a TD missile in the game’s first minute, now duplicated that feat late in the game. The 29-yard pass came with 4:47 left.

Gilmer, though, had the last laugh not only in the game’s final score, but by making the clash’s last TD on an absolutely dumbfounding 31-yard push by Brooks, who had tacklers hanging all over him as he forced entry into TD turf with just 1:06 left. Gorostieta’s PAT failed.

And thus did the scoring spree conclude on a night when Gilmer hit its target dead Center.