Oh Henry! Ellis leads Trojans to NGAC crown
The Gordon Lee Trojans didn’t have a perfect season, but they were able to enjoy the next best thing.
Gordon Lee, who lost two games in the regular season, avenged both losses in the postseason. They rallied for the winning score in the final minute of their semifinal victory over previously unbeaten Heritage in the semifinals and this past Thursday, they made amends for a Sept. 29 loss to Rossville by downing the Bulldogs, 28-16, to win the NGAC football championship.
“Our assistant coaches won the game today,” Gordon Lee head coach Tony McAllister said of the school’s first NGAC football title since 2004. “Coaches (Bradley) Floyd, (Steve) Bennett, (Adam) Crowley and (Austin) Crisp. They’re the ones that put the game plan together all week. I just manage things and the boys go out and make it happen.”
That game plan included 18 handoffs to league MVP Henry Ellis, who collected 160 yards and four touchdowns. He also had two long scoring runs called back by penalty.
“Henry’s done that for us all year long,” McAllister said. “We needed him to be the guy and we needed him to protect the ball and he did. Our line played great today too. Rossville’s so big across the front and very well-coached, but our offensive line was amazing today.”
In the regular season meeting, the Bulldogs stunned the Trojans with 18 unanswered points in the opening quarter, before holding on for an 18-14 win that clinched the NGAC Western Division title.
But in the rematch, it was the Trojans (7-2) that got out to the big early lead. Ellis raced 43 yards for a score on the fourth play of the game, and after Rossville fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, Ellis ran it in from the 1-yard line to cap a short six-play, 25yard drive that put the Trojans up 14-0 with 3:06 left in the first stanza.
“That was big,” McAllister explained. “We knew from playing them before that we could hang with them, if we didn’t get down in another big hole. We preached to them all week about trying to get out to a big lead and seeing how Rossville responded.”
Respond the Bulldogs did. Chance Sharp broke free on a 32-yard TD run to finish off the ensuing nine-play, 64-yard drive, and Rossville caught
a break as Tye Whaley recovered an onside kick. But the Gordon Lee defense would tighten up as Cade Peterson would stone Landon Ownby four yards short on a fourthdown fake punt near midfield.
Three plays and one 15-yard Bulldog penalty later, Ellis went off left tackle for a 34yard score to add to the lead. Rossville would drive to the Trojans’ 13 in the closing seconds of the half, but a final pass attempt would fall incomplete in the endzone as Gordon Lee carried a 20-8 lead into intermission.
Whaley provided a spark to open the second half, going 27 yards on the first play of the third quarter before scoring on a 13-yard inside counter some 90 seconds later. Gordon Casteel added the conversion and suddenly the Bulldogs trailed by just four points, 20-16, with 6:11 left in the third.
A holding penalty would wipe out a 41yard TD run by Ellis on the fifth play of Gordon Lee’s next possession. But on second-and-18 from midfield, quarterback Blake Groce rolled out on a play-action pass and hit Brody Cobb out of the backfield for a big 22-yard gain to keep the chains moving.
Two plays later, Ellis got a nice block from Cobb and went off left tackle once more for a 19-yard score. Cobb hauled in the two-point pass to boost the lead to 28-16 with 2:23 left in the third.
Rossville would get the ball back for two final possessions in the final 10:23. A long drive would move the ball to the Gordon Lee 31, but cornerback Bryce James, who recovered the fumbled kickoff earlier in the game, broke up a fourthdown pass to snuff out the drive with 4:40 remaining.
A 69-yard TD run by Ellis on the very next play would be wiped out on a holding call and Gordon Lee would have to punt with 1:58 to go. The Bulldogs would move the ball down to the Trojans’ 16, but Peterson would pick off one final Preston Homsombath pass in the endzone with 41 seconds left to seal the victory.
Cobb finished with 24 yards on five carries and caught both passes from Groce for 38 important yards as the Trojans finished with 222 yards of total offense.
Rossville also ended up with 222 yards, all coming on the ground. Whaley led the way with 95 yards on 13 carries. Ownby finished with 78 yards on 10 attempts and Sharp had 37 yards on four carries.
“Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and that’s really what has happened in this league over the years,” said Rossville head coach Steve Lewis, whose team finished the year 6-2. “It seems like whichever team wins the matchup in the regular season gets beat by that same team in the championship. We weren’t complacent or anything like that. Gordon Lee just had a good game plan. They ran something at us that, frankly, we just couldn’t stop and that’s really all it boils down to.
“I just hate for our kids. We’ve had three good years with a lot of them and they’ve become great young men. We never have to really get on them or worry about them doing something stupid. I’m just very proud of them.”
“I knew Steve wouldn’t let his team quit,” McAllister said. “He’s a good friend, a great coach and I’ve learned a lot from him over the years. I knew Rossville wouldn’t quit, but I knew we wouldn’t either. We’d come too far to quit.
“Even after we got beat so bad by Heritage in our first game, I had a good feeling about our team, especially after they way they responded the very next game against Trion. I’ve never been around a team with this much heart.”