Warriors look good in annual spring game
It may only be late May but there is certainly reason to be very optimistic about the Gordon Central High School football team.
At least based on the first look at the 2023 version under the tutelage of new head coach Lenny Gregory, which came last Thursday night at cold and windy Ratner Stadium in their annual spring game, with a 26-8 win for the Warriors over Utopian Academy. Let us repeat that — a 26-8 win. “The biggest thing we wanted to see was the kids play with great effort and with great enthusiasm on every play and we felt like we did that,” Gregory said. “We wanted to see them play with physicality and they did. And we also wanted to see the kids have fun. Football is supposed to be a fun game, so we wanted them to go out and fly out and have some fun and we felt like for the most part, we were able to do that. So we were very encouraged by what we saw. We feel like the kids were encouraged. They saw good things happen when you go out and play with great effort and play with great energy and just have some fun. So now we just need to go back to work and continue getting ready for the season.”
They made plays on both sides of the football. They created havoc for UA defensively, basically never stifling them from moving the ball most of the night.
And offensively, they moved the football.
Senior quarterback Peyton Chastain, who stands tall in the pocket, connected with several different receivers and a committee of backs picked up yardage on the ground, behind an offensive line that has three starters returning from last year and seemed to win the game at the line of scrimmage.
“I thought Peyton did a great job,” Gregory said of his first-year quarterback. “He’s kind of been thrust into this
role, but he’s such a selfless player. He’s going to be a college football player, In my opinion, but he’s not going to be a college quarterback, so for him to take on this role for the good of the team, even though he is probably going to be a tight end or defensive end at the next level, that speaks volumes about just what kind of person he is. It also speaks to how unselfish he is and how much of a team player he is and how much he wants to win. But he’s a big, strong kid with a strong arm. He’s a senior. He’s a leader. He’s doing a great job and I think he’s getting better every day.”
Simply put, against Utopian, the Warriors looked like a group for whom success is not as far away as some people in Warrior Nation had thought. Or feared.
The first two plays they ran from scrimmage offensively Thursday night resulted in two first downs, which was more than they had in a couple of games last year. And while that drive did stall, their next three did not and a lot of bad memories and frustration might have been washed away.
The Warriors began their good night’s work after a short Utopian kickoff to start the game. On first down, Chastain hooked up on a pass to senior receiver Braxton Carnes for 19 yards and then a pitch to Carnes went for 19 more to the Utopian 34.
A bad snap and a penalty later, the Big Blue had to give up the football, still at the UA 34, after an incomplete pass on a fourth-and-10.
But the Eagles were met with an aggressive, hard-hitting defense and after one first down, had to punt the ball, and at that point, the Warriors’ new spread offense began to clock.
Taking over at their own 24, and then getting five yards on an Utopian offside call, the team went 76 yards in nine plays with a Jayden Sibley 23-yard touchdown run capping off the nice drive.
Jayden Jones started it with a 15-yard run, after a false start and then an illegal shift penalty, they found themselves in a crucial thirdand-15 situation. Needing a first down to keep it moving, running back Matt Hammock came in and motored down the home sideline for 17 yards and the first down.
Jones went for 11 more on his third carry of the possession before Sibley finished it off with the touchdown that put them up 6-nothing. Jose Ordonez then nailed the extra point and it was 7-0 with 6:07 to go in the first quarter.
“That was a good drive for us,” Gregory said. “We had a few different players make plays for us. We had to overcome a couple of things we need to clean up, but the kids did a good job of working through it and getting the touchdown.”
The Warriors would get their next touchdown just over a minute later.
Taking over on its next drive at the 25, Utopian Academy’s first play of the drive resulted in a tipped pass that defensive back Jacob Lopez pulled it out of the air and then weaved his way nearly
30 yards all the way down to the Eagles’ 7-yard-line.
“That was an alert play on Jacob’s part,” Gregory said. “We’re trying to put a big emphasis on creating turnovers on defense and so to get one right away like that, was good to see. I thought we got a good rush and that might have forced them to get the ball out quicker than they wanted to and Jacob was right there to make a play.
“But we want a defense that’s aggressive and physical and smart and you get that by making plays like the one Jacob made on that interception.”
Carnes carried twice to get the hosts to the one-yardline and then Sibley went around the right side for the touchdown. Ordonez made it 2-for-2 in the PAT category and the Warriors led 14-0 with 4:59 left in the first.
After the teams traded punts, the Warriors kept adding on, compiling an eight-play, 50-yard scoring drive that culminated with Chastain throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Hammock.
From there, the defense kept their guests off-balance all three quarters the first-teamers went after it as it appears the Warriors may have found something on defense with Hanmock on one end and D.J. Fleetwood on the other in their 3-man front.
“We feel like with Matt at one end and D.J. at the other, we’re going to be able to get pressure,” Gregory said. “I thought they both played very well Thursday night and we’re just scratching the surface with those two guys. I mean they’re only juniors and D.J. has just started playing, but I thought they, along with all the kids on that side of the ball, did a good job. Anytime you only give up one touchdown in a game, you’ve always got a chance to have success so we thought those guys did a real good job for us.”
He said the players have come a long way since he took over for former head coach T.J. Hamilton the first week of February.
“The kids have just bought into everything we’ve asked them to do as far as speed, agility and conditioning,” Gregory said. “And too me, it all starts in the weight room and that was the first thing we had to work on because we don’t have a weight class period. So we asked the players and the parents to commit to us holding that before school started and they did. And I think that’s helped us start to change the culture of the entire program because we had to change the culture in the weight room.
“And now I know we’re bigger and stronger and faster than we were. And I feel you saw that carry over to the field Thursday night. We were flying around on both sides of the ball. We were making plays. I feel like we played with a great deal of physicality and I felt like we had some fun out there. There were smiles on the player’s faces afterwards and throughout the night, so it was a good night for us. Now we’ve got a lot of work to do and we got a lot of stuff going on for the next couple of months to help us continue to get ready and help us continue to get better, but I thought it was a great first step for us.”