GC takes brief lead, but Indians too much down stretch
The Gordon Central Warriors were looking to see how far they have come in just a short amount of time under first-year head coach Cory Nix, and while the measuring stick didn’t come with a win on Friday, they certainly showed that positive progress has been made to this point.
The Warriors battled for four quarters on Friday in their season opener against Murray County and came up short in a 36-14 loss, but that’s quite different than the results of last year’s contest between the two teams, a 55-13 victory for the Indians in Chatsworth.
Gordon Central (0-1) even took a lead in the third quarter after reeling off two touchdowns in a short amount of time coming out of the half- time break to turn the game around from 10-0 halftime deficit to a 14-10 advantage. But Murray County seized the momentum from there thanks in large part to some big plays by their No. 1 playmaker, running back Tucker Gregg, to pull back ahead and then comfortably away with four unanswered touchdowns to finish out the game.
Gregg finished the night with 195 yards on 22 carries with two touchdowns on the ground. He also had a 49-yard touchdown catch on a screen pass in the third quarter, which put Murray County (1-0) back ahead after the Warriors’ brief lead.
Nix said his team will look at their opening loss as a learning lesson and continue looking for improvement as this new era of Gordon Central football gets going.
“These are all learning lessons that our team is going to go through,” said Nix. “When you jump on top like we did in the third quarter, you can’t get too high and feel like you’ve won the game. You’ve got to keep fighting. When you get down in games, you can’t quit. It’s the same thing… you have to continue to keep fighting and keep going.
“We’ve just got to put our hardhats on and get back to work. Our next opportunity is Monday at practice. We’ll learn from our mistakes on film, correct them, and then flush it and get prepared for next Friday.”
The Warriors grabbed the momentum immediately coming out of the locker room at half as Gauge Giddens took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and exploded 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-7 after the PAT.
The Gordon Central defense responded as well, forcing a threeand-out on the ensuing drive, and after the Murray County punt snap flew over the punter’s head, he got the kick off but it only made it to his own 22. Giddens once again stepped up with a huge play as he took the handoff on first down and went 22 yards for a touchdown to put his team in the lead. Giddens finished with 44 yards on 13 carries as the Warriors’ leading rusher.
Murray County didn’t stay down long however as Gregg took a screen pass from John Reed 49 yards on the next possession for a score to make it 17-14. The Indians then recovered their own pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff and another scoring drive was punctuated with a Gregg three-yard TD run.
The Indians finished things off with two fourth-quarter TDs, one from Reed on a 25-yard run and then one from Gregg on a 75-yard run. Reed finished with 42 yards rushing and 120 yards through the air with two touchdowns.
Gordon Central had one last chance to score late in the game, but they were turned away on fourth down from inside the Murray County 10 with less than a minute to play.
After the two teams traded stops early in the game, Murray County got on the scoreboard in the first quarter on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Reed to Preston VanMeter.
A few drives later, the Gordon Central defense stood strong to force a field goal, and Murray County’s Juan Andrade converted from 42 yards out to make it 10-0 with 8:53 to play in the half.
Gordon Central’s offense had their best drive of the first half going just before the end of the second quar- ter, but it ended with an interception by Murray County’s VanMeter with 1:12 to play before the break. It was the Indians’ second turnover of the half as Josh Curtis recovered a fumble near midfield late in the first quarter. Gordon Central also had a turnover in the first half, coming on a Branson Towe interception at the Warriors’ 16 in the second quarter.
The Warriors will be on the road next Friday to visit SE Whitfield.