GAINESVILLE — Gainesville coach Bruce Miller told his team it’s going to hurt for a couple days. Then, he expects them to forget all about it.
“It’s gonna hurt, no doubt. But when we come back on Monday this one is behind us,” Miller said in his after-game speech following the Red Elephants’ 16-8 loss to Lanier at City Park Stadium.
“But I can tell you one thing. This is our last loss of the season right here.”
The win for the Class AAAAA sixth-ranked Longhorns (6-0, 5-0 Region 8-AAAAA) gives them the upper hand for the region title. The loss dropped Gainesville (4-2, 4-1) essentially two games back with four games left in the regular season since Lanier holds the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Derrick Brown, Devin Miller, Juwuan Jones and the rest of the Lanier defense proved a tough nut to crack as they held a potent Gainesville offense to nearly 30 points below its average and just 193 total yards. nearly a third coming on the Red Elephants’ only scoring drive midway through the fourth quarter.
Miller and Lanier coach Korey Mobbs said the game went as both expected.
“Our guys played hard all night,” Miller said. “It was just a great battle between two good defenses and two good teams.”
“Two excellent defenses out there so you knew points would be tough to come by," Mobbs said. “But I thought the key was our offensive line. They did a great job, especially in the second half.”
The Longhorns came out in the second half and established their run game behind their bigger line and brothers Marcella and Marcko Baity. The duo combined for 238 yards -- 190 in the second half -- as Lanier controlled the clock after halftime.
Despite a 75-yard drive that ate up half of the third quarter, Lanier was only able to get a 22-yard field goal from Noah Thomas to take a 3-0 lead. After the Lanier defense stuffed Gainesville on three straight plays, the Longhorns went to work again.
Lanier marched to the Gainesville 6 and faced a 4th-and-3. Senior quarterback Tahj Tolbert scrambled left and lobbed a pass into the end zone that pinballed off several players before landing in the arms of Jones, who was already on the turf, for a touchdown and a 10-0 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter.
The Red Elephants appeared to be on the move on their next possession but Brown and Miller stuffed quarterback Messiah Dorsey forcing Gainesville’s seventh punt. Brown then made a remarkable one-handed block of the kick reaching over two blockers and then scooped the ball and returned it deep into Gainesville territory.
Brown even capped the ensuing short drive bulldozing his way for a 1-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation to give the Longhorns a 16-0 lead with 10:39 left.
“It was just a great play by Derrick,” Mobbs said. “He’s so tough to block and then we just decided to let him play a little offense. He’s tough to bring down in that kind of situation.”
It looked bleak for the Red Elephants but then Dorsey decided to take matters into his own hands. Dorsey scrambled for a pair of first downs and then connected on a 25-yard pass with Rodarius Timmons deep into Lanier territory. Dorsey capped the drive with a nifty 3-yard touchdown run on fourth down. He found Tae Turner in the end zone for the 2-point conversion to cut the lead to 16-8 with 8:11 left in the game.
“Messiah made some nice plays and just put the guys on his back in the fourth quarter,” Miller said. “We just needed a few more plays.”
The Gainesville defense forced a Lanier punt on the Longhorns next possession giving the offense a chance to tie the game. But Miller sacked Dorsey on a key third-down play and then forced a turnover on downs with just over four minutes left.
Tolbert and the Baity’s ran out the final minutes with a pair of key first downs to seal the victory.
“Again, the offensive line I thought was the difference for us,” Mobbs said. “When we needed a first down they gave our guys some room. I feel like our offense is making strides. This was a great effort against a great defense.”
The first half was the defensive battle that everyone expected.
The Longhorns held Gainesville to three straight three-and-outs to open the game. Brown recorded three tackles for loss in the first two Gainesville drives.
The Lanier offense was held to a three-and-out on its first possession but was able to use some misdirection runs to drive to the Gainesville 25 on its second possession. The drive stalled there and a bad snap on a 43-yard field goal attempt thwarted the first scoring opportunity of the game.
After another three-and-out by the Gainesville offense, the Longhorns again used their ground game to move to the Gainesville 19. Lanier had a touchdown pass dropped in the end zone and then Thomas sailed a 36-yard field goal attempt wide left to keep it scoreless early in the second quarter.
The Red Elephants offense finally got its first first down of the game on a 6-yard diving run by Dorsey and then a 16-yard run by Dorsey moved Gainesville to the Longhorns 49. But the drive stalled with the fourth Gainesville punt of the half.
Lanier was held to a three-and-out and Gainesville would start its final drive of the half at its own 9. Lanier twice looked to force fourth down but a facemask penalty and then a roughing the passer penalty, both on Brown, helped push Gainesville to the Longhorns 32.
Gainesville appeared to have finally struck with its big-play offense when Dorsey connected with Turner on a 32-yard touchdown pass. But the score was called back on a holding penalty.
The drive eventually stalled at the Lanier 41 and a Chandler Staton 58-yard field goal attempt was short and wide right with just under two minutes left in the half. Lanier ran out the clock and the teams went into halftime locked in a scoreless tie.
SCORING SUMMARY
Lanier.............0....0....10....6 -- 16
Gainesville......0....0......0....8 -- 8
Third Quarter
LAN -- Thomas 22 FG 3-0, 6:13
LAN -- Jones 6 pass from Tolbert (Thomas kick) 10-0, 3:03
Fourth Quarter
LAN -- Brown 1 run (kick failed) 16-0, 10:39
GHS -- Dorsey 3 run (Turner pass) 16-8, 8:11
