GILMER TOUGHS IT OUT | But Athens wins / ANALYSIS by PHILLIP WILLIAMS

HENDERSON — At first blush, as the old saying goes, the Gilmer Buckeyes might not have manifested to be worthy wargame warriors for the Athens Hornets to seek subduing in their class 4A Division 2 Playoff Pairing on Friday night.
Usually Goliath Gilmer entered the extermination effort at 4-6, its first losing season since 2018 and only its second in roughly 30 years, while Athens’ Hornets swarmed into town with an 8-2 history, including a near-victory over almighty Carthage.
And oh, yes, a quarterback who has reportedly.caught the eyeball riveting of just about every institution of higher learning except the Electoral College. Chap named David Richardson.
Be that as it may, the Buckeyes put up a three-fisted fusillade in an Ode to Offense which went to the final 1:16 before Athens finally guillotined gritty Gilmer, 57-49, in a bi-district “beaut.”
In addition to the facts that the lead continually changed hands, and each team dispensed only one turnover, the scorefest was an offbeat affray in the aspect of the kicking game.
Neither foe punted, both squads recovered an onside kick, and Gilmer blocked two Athens PAT boots.
The outcome frankly finally came down to the fact that Athens toted up eight touchdowns to Gilmer’s seven as the teams’ defensive coordinators spent the night scratching their noggins, wondering how to stop the overwhelming offensives short of brandishing samurai swords.
The main turning point may well have been when the Buckeyes, trailing only 49-43, stormed to the Hornet 4-yard-line in the fourth quarter, only to see a defender break up a fourth-down heave into the end zone by Gilmer quarterback Taylor with 5:22 left.
Although Taylor had a Herculean night, heaving three TDs to Solomon Jackson and hoofing for three more tallies, the Hornets had heroes of their own. Heralded Hornet field general Richardson had his stinger out for Gilmer, flinging two TDS, hot-footing for another, completing three passes for two-point conversions and legging another conversion.
After Gilmer’s aforementioned thrust died four yards from the Hornet end zone, Athens motored downfield, scored with under three minutes left, and Gilmer’s last tally with 1:16 remaining was insufficient to surmount the 57-43 margin before a last-ditch onside kick failed.
At the game’s outset, it appeared Gilmer might swat the Hornets as the Buckeyes took the opening kickoff and staged a blitzkrieg to the end zone, ingesting 75 yards to tally on running back Tayveon Horne’s 2-yard hop up the middle.
Miguel Castaneda airlifted the first of his five successful PATs with 8:59 left in the first quadrant. (Gilmer scored a two-point conversion after its fourth TD and Castaneda misfired after the Buckeyes’ final tally.)
Athens, however, deployed its rapid reponse team on its opening possession as Julious Brewer soon weaved through traffic and scored near the left sideline on a stupefying 54-yard trip. Juan Robles suffered the first of his two blocked PATs with 4:00 left in the first, leaving Gilmer up 7-6.
The second quarter turned into a Point Parade as the Buckeyes procured 22 points to Athens’ 21 to give Gilmer a 29-27 advantage at Twirling Time.
First, Gilmer counter-attacked on Taylor’s 14-yard whoosh in which he blew through the line, leaving everyone behind in his wake with 11:25 left.
But talk about rapid response–Hornet D’Marcus Davis immediately stultified the Buckeyes with a 70-yard kickoff return to Beulah Land and, although Athens was two points behind, it settled for Robles’ PAT kick to make it 14-13 Gilmer with 11:13 left to intermission.
The Buckeyes soon rebounded as Taylor flung a 20-yard TD throw to Jackson near the goal line with 6:30 still left to the Band Break. But, down 21-13, the Hornets hummed back as Richardson shot a 56-yard TD to E’Manuel Moore with 5:23 still left in the period.
This time, Athens went for two and got it on Richardson’s airmail package to Charli Kiser, tying things 21-21 with 5:23 still remaining in the period.
However, a 69-yard kickoff return to the Hornet 21 helped clear the shelf for Gilmer’s next six-pointer on Taylor’s fourth-down 7-yard missile to Jackson. Horne then tallied two points on the “swinging gate” to put Gilmer up 29-21 with 3:02 left to halftime.
The second-quarter scoring orgy concluded with Richardson plunging four yards into Glory Land, scoring while atop a defender, with 36.7 seconds left to Music Time. Down two points, Athens again went for only one, only to see Robles suffer another blocked kick.
In the second half, though, the Hornets would outscore their adversaries 30-20 to claim the prize. And Athens began the final two quarters like Godzilla and King Kong rampaging through a metropolitican city, scoring two TDs within a 50-second span before the third period was half-done.
Taking the kickoff, the Hornets rumbled 57 yards downfield to hit scoring soil on Ja’Bory Taylor’s 2-yard bop, before Richardson zipped a 2-point throw to Moore with 8:54 left in the third. Now Athens led 35-29.
Gilmer then suffered a devastating blow when the Hornets recovered an onside kick–another key play in the contest’s verdict–at the Buckeye 47. That soon led to Kiser thundering 28 yards to his left to procure points with 8:04 left in the quarter.
A pass for two points failed, but now Gilmer found itself down 41-29. The Buckeyes, though, promptly pieced together a long offensive to get revived on Taylor’s 23-yard toss to Jackson with 2:57 remaining in the third.
Now behind only 41-36, the Buckeyes showed Athens that Gilmer, too, knew how to recover an onside kick at the Hornet 49. And with 34.2 seconds left in the period, Taylor adroitly feigned a pitchout before screaming 26 yards into the Athens end zone.
The PAT made it 43-41 in Gilmer’s favor, but a Buckeye blunder–another key play in this gunfight–immediately turned the constantly-shifting momentum back to Athens.
Gilmer kicked onside again, but the Hornets recovered at their 47. And Richardson immediately unleashed a 53-yard scoring sling to Brewer before, as an encore, running for the conversion with 19.2 seconds left in the third.
Down 49-43, Gilmer then embarked on the aforementioned 16-play offensive which the Hornets snuffed just yards from their goal line.
And Athens didn’t need long to traverse the 96 yards to glory, as Ja’Bory Taylor romped 20 yards, dragging Gilmer would-be tacklers into the end zone with 2:58 left. Richardson unleashed a 2-point pass to Kiser.
To its credit, Gilmer took the kickoff and consumed 77 yards, enabling Zade Taylor to hike two yards up the middle for the night’s final TD with 1:16 left. Carthage ran out the clock with kneeldowns after Gilmer’s desperation onside kick failed.
And thus did Gilmer, making its 25th consecutive playoff appearance, find itself eliminated in the first round of post-season play for the first time in exactly 20 years.
Nonetheless, the team that has gone to three state title games (winning one) under currrent Coach Alan Metzel, had come close on this night at Lions Stadium to exterminating a Hornets’ nest which had appeared on paper to be poised to give the Buckeyes a more stinging defeat.