Pleasant Grove
LAST WEEK: Pleasant Grove come back from a 21-0 halftime deficit and defeated Liberty-Eylau 25-28 in a District 6-4A, Div. II game at Hawk Stadium.
THIS WEEK:
Pleasant Grove (7-2, 3-0) travels to Longview to take on Spring Hill (2-6, 0-2).
OFFENSIVE
STANDOUTS: Junior Bruce Garrett returned a kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and rushed for 100 yards on 23 carries and a score. Senior Will Cullipher amassed 112 yards on 18 totes and a TD. QB Ben Harmon passed for 79 yards and found Brett Walker on a 6-yards strike for a score.
Harmon also rushed for a 1-yard score and had 60 rushing yards on 14 carries.
DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS: LB Caleb Hemphill led the Hawks in tackles with 11 and had a pass breakup. DL Marcus Burris made seven tackles and had a sack, while DL Landon Jackson made six stops. Tyler Kelley had eight tackles, while teammates Ryan Pickelman and Nick Martin added six apiece.
COACH JOSH GIBSON’S COMMENTS:
“It was an unbelievable comeback, probably one of the best in school history. I’m proud that our kids continued to fight and found and found a way to win.
“We learned that L-E has a great football team and we knew that going in. We also learned that we can’t get away with playing sub-par football when we play great teams. We have to be at our best to beat really good teams and can’t take anything for granted. We also learned that when we turn the ball over, we will get ourselves in a hole and may have a hard time overcoming those mistakes (Pleasant Grove had three turnovers in the first half). I was proud of our kids not losing their composure and fighting back. Not many teams can come back from the hole we dug, but our kids are special. I loved watching them compete in the second half. I was also proud of our community for sticking with us after a rough start. Our fans were rocking in the second half and the atmosphere was awesome.
“I was really proud of Will Cullipher. He’s been a back-up for us this year. With James (Wiggins) out, we didn’t miss a beat. “Culli” ran hard and physical and was a huge part of our win. Bruce Garrett had one of his best games this year. He ran the ball extremely hard and had a great kickoff return where he outran L-E; big night for Bruce.”