Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
2-way starter Gilbreth always ready for Hillbillies
OZARK — Before Gavin Gilbreth even gets to Hillbilly Stadium, he’s ready to play.
“It was just in me to play football,” said Gilbreth, who’s a hard-nosed defensive end and running back for the Ozark Hillbillies.
“He’s been a workhorse. He plays with passion,” Ozark Coach Jeremie Burns said. “He’s tough and hard-nosed. He came in Friday night and said he drank four Red Bulls. He was jumping around before the game and was all fired up. He was ready to go.”
Gilbreth has been ready to go his entire senior season, playing on both sides of the ball and hardly leaving the field.
“I may come off the field a solid six or seven minutes the whole game,” Gilbreth.
Gilbreth is a three-year starter on defense and will start his 36th career game
Friday when Ozark travels to Warren for the quarterfinals of the Class 4A playoffs.
“He plays as hard as he can both ways and doesn’t come off the field,” Burns said. “He had a really good game on
Friday [against Lamar]. He’s been a big part of our success on offense this year, and on defense he’s been a leader for us all three years at that defensive end spot. He’s a good pass rusher. Talk about having a motor, he’s one of those kind of guys.”
As Ozark’s most experienced defensive player, he hardly gets a break on defense and this year added running back to his responsibilities to replace record-breaking running back Eli Masingale, who graduated.
“I knew it was going to a hard position to fill, Eli Masingale’s shoes,” Gilbreth said. “He was big and bulky, and blew up in a year and was able to run the ball hard down their throats all the time. I was nervous and a little bit overwhelmed the first year of high school to be a running back.”
Gilbreth played running back and defense in junior high, but immediately made an impact on defense as a sophomore with 60 tackles, 7 for loss, 9 sacks, an interception and 2 fumble recoveries.
Last year, as a junior he had 73 tackles, 14 for loss, 7 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries.
Even with the added duties, he hasn’t dropped off on defense with 59 tackles, 8 for loss, 8 sacks, and 2 fumble recoveries this season.
“He gets up the field and puts pressure on the quarterback,” Burns said. “He’s a physical player. He’s been a good player for us for three years.”
In Friday’s 49-14 win over Lincoln, Gilbreth had 10 carries for 120 yards. For the season, he’s had 84 carries for 686 yards and 9 scores.
He’s been the perfect complement to junior quarterback
Koby Wilbanks, who ran for 244 yards Friday night. Gilbreth and Wilbanks along with senior Brayden Miner, who’s rushed for 370 yards and nine touchdowns, have made for a three-way threat.
“He’s come into his own as a running back, him and Brayden Miner and Koby back there gives us three good options,” Burns said. “They help each other out. We can rotate with him in the Pistol and Miner, on who gets the ball and who blocks. It’s been a good trio back there.”
Gilbreth relishes the opportunity to be physical on offense and defense his senior season.
“Oh yeah, 100%,” Gilbreth said. “I learned probably seventh grade that I could hit people on both sides of the ball. I took it and ran with it.”
Miner, as well as some others on defense, have allowed the Hillbillies to rest Gilbreth some on each side of the ball.
“We’ve been able to spot him some defensively, we had some guys step up,” Burns said. “Offensively, we can bring in Miner and then bring another receiver in our trips set to give him a break there. We started rotating him at running back as a junior. We knew he had the potential, but we’re trying to keep guys fresh where they could handle playing both ways. This year, he’s had to play both.”
For the season, Ozark is averaging 270 yards per game on the ground and Wilbanks has thrown for 1,121 yards and 13 touchdowns for a balanced offense.
It will take that kind of balance on Friday against undefeated Warren, which is always a title contender.
“We need to control the clock and not give them many chances,” Burns said. “We need to grind it out best we can. All of them are big, tall and fast so we’ve got to come up with something to move the ball on them.”