WHAM, BAM! | Gilmer undercuts (formerly) unbeaten Sunnyvale | BUCKEYES BEAT by Phillip Williams
GILMER – It would appear, based on press box observers’ opining, that Gilmer Buckeyes head coach Alan Metzel hath unearthed an unsettling unorthodox strategy for superiority in grid gigs.
Recovering onside kicks.
As one sportswriter noted, the Buckeyes successfully thrust that trick three times Friday night on the previously unvanquished Sunnyvale Raiders, with the entire triad eventually leading to touchdowns, as Gilmer staged a come-from-behind Homecoming Hurrah by stupefying Sunnyvale, 49-28, at Jeff Traylor Stadium.
The triumph was rousing retribution for the visitors having expatriated Gilmer from Playoff Paradise in their last meeting in 2024, Sunnyvale’s only bloodying of the Buckeyes in several meetings.
After trailing twice, Gilmer led only 28-21 at Twirling Time as both teams’ offenses shined like the full moon underneath which the wargame was waged.
In the final two quarters, though, the Raiders’ offense abruptly dimmed with self-inflicted problems in their prolific passing game, and the defense incurred two costly pass interference penalties, while Gilmer detonated the dam for three more TDs, using those short-range kickoffs as a springboard for dominating the last 24 minutes of play.
Sunnyvale also harmed itself with the two key flagrant 15-yard pass interference penalties, both of which bolstered the Buckeyes en route to touchdowns.
The triumph was Taylor-made and sweet music from a Horne for Gilmer as fleet quarterback Zane Taylor hoofed for two touchdowns and heaved two more, while runner Tayveon Horne hot-footed to three tallies and a two-point conversion.
Initially, though, it looked like it would be sunny skies, albeit at night, for Sunnyvale.
The Raiders erected leads of 7-0, 14-7, 14-13 and 21-13 before the homecoming hosts overtook them with a breathtaking 36-point barrage before the visitors procured their final TD so late in the duel that Gilmer had pretty much pocketed the victory by then.
In doing so, the outcome left both teams with 4-1 records as Gilmer (which was a totally uncharacteristic 1-4 at this juncture last season) enjoys a bye week next Friday.
Gilmer took the opening kickoff, only to have runner Horne disgorge a fumble to the visitors on the fourth play afterward at the Buckeye 46. (He’d more than atone for that later). It took awhile, but the Raiders reached Beulah Land after Horne’s mishap on a fourth-down, twisting 5-yard troop by skilled QB Cayson Maupin (who’d lug two of his team’s TDs and loft a third on the night.)
Tyson Smith airlifted the first of his four successful PATs with 6:57 left in the first.
Before Sunnyvale even had time to chug-a-lug a celebratory cola, though, the Buckeyes stultified them with a Big Bang. Gilmer returned the Raiders’ onside kickoff to the Buckeye 44, and the speedy Taylor suddenly screamed 56 yards to TD Territory.
Alan Sanchez whammed the tying extra point with 6:45 left in the inaugural quarter.
The Raiders, though, unfazed by that, quilted together an elongated offensive which resulted in Maupin’s 4-yard scoring sling to a wide-open Greyson Walker in the end zone with just 31 seconds left in quarter one.
On the second quarter’s opening play, however, the hosts bewildered the visitors as Taylor air mailed a 19-yard TD to Kaden Canady, who wended his way through traffic to Glory Land.
The Buckeyes suffered a shortfall, though, when they feigned a PAT kick and holder Jaxon Jenkins fired incomplete in a try for two points, leaving Sunnyvale up 14-13 with 11:53 left to intermission.
Things would worsen for Gilmer before they got better–but beatifically better.
The Buckeyes’ onside kick failed (before Gilmer learned to get that tactic down right later in the fray), and Sunnyvale (which had the ball far more than the hosts during much of the first half) pieced together a long touchdown trek ending in Grayson Smith’s 1-yard rip.
The PAT made it 21-13 with 6:57 left to Band Time, and the Buckeyes’ outlook for a homecoming huzzah was beginning to look downright depressing.
But the hosts were having none of that.
They would bowl a bewildering five TDs before Sunnyvale finally landed in the end zone again with 2:48 left on Maupin’s scramble of six yards.
On its next possession after Smith’s TD, abetted greatly by one of the pass interference penalties, Gilmer strode 72 yards to the Garden of Eden, pillaging points on Taylor’s 37-yard long launch to Kipton Neighbors.
Sanchez’s PAT pulled his team within one point of the Raiders with 4:39 left to Popcorn Time before the Bucks promptly pulled off the first of their successful onside boots, recovering at the Sunnyvale 47.
That may well have been the clash’s turning point as Gilmer hogged the pigskin till only 28 seconds remained to Music Time, tallying on Horne’s 2-yard charge up the middle before he ran over a 2-point conversion to put his team ahead for the first time.
With Gilmer up 28-21, little did anyone know the Buckeyes would utilize those onside kicks to help score 21 more straight points.
Ironically, Gilmer opened the second half with a failed such kick. But Sunnyvale’s overpowering offense suddenly faltered as a rusher fumbled for no gain at midfield, a pass went incomplete, and a wide-open receiver inexplicably dropped a third-down pass.
This led to the first punt by any team in a Gilmer game in two weeks as neither the Bucks nor Sulphur Springs kicked one in Gilmer’s 48-38 win the prior week.
Several plays later, Canady would dispense a fumble to the visitors at the Sunnyvale 26. But on a third-down pass from the 32, the would-be Raider receiver appeared to skid, losing his balance for an incompletion. And, after a 5-yard penalty against the visitors, they punted again.
Gilmer promptly rumbled 36 yards in six plays, again aided by a 15-yard pass interference penalty, to change the scoreboard total again on Horne’s 2-yard roll up the middle. Sanchez banged the first of his three remaining PATs with 1:23 remaining in the third.
Gilmer again seized its onside kick at the visitors’ 48 and proceeded back to Tally Territory on Taylor’s 2-yard zip with 9:54 left in the game.
Up 42-21, Gilmer made history repeat itself with its third recovery of an onside kick, this time at the Buckeyes’ 44, and this would swiftly lead to snuffing Sunnyvale’s hopes for a commendable comeback.
On the second play afterward, Horne blew 34 yards around left end for the last Buckeye TD with 8:54 left. Somewhat later came the Raiders’ aforementioned and somewhat meaningless only score of the second half.
Unconquered by its four prior opponents, Sunnyvale made its lengthy trip to Gilmer with the thought that it would both have a sunny situation and rain on its foe’s homecoming. As it turned out, the Buckeyes made things sunny for themselves and ensured they were not made “all wet” on their special evening.