GAINESVILLE — Based on Friday’s shocking 27-21 takedown of Class 4A No. 8 Mary Persons at City Park Stadium, the Gainesville rebuild may already be over
The Maxwell ratings put the Bulldogs as a 28-point favorite coming into Friday’s season opener for both teams. It was Gainesville, however, that left the field looking like the better team.
The Red Elephants ran over, through, and around the Bulldogs almost from the opening kick behind its big offensive line anchored by Jordan Williams, Cedric Nicely, and Elijah Ruiz. They pounded the Mary Persons defense for 366 yards on the ground on 50 carries with senior running back Dez Brown (12 car., 125 yards) and junior quarterback Gionni Williams (23 car., 117 yards) both eclipsing the century mark. Senior JD Brooks just missed on a 100-yard game of his own with 91 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries.
It was a far cry from the 42-0 drubbing they endured at the hands of the Bulldogs in last year’s season opener that was called at halftime due to weather.
“Well, I certainly think after this we’re way ahead of the 1,000-day plan we put into place,” a smiling Gainesville coach Heath Webb said afterwards. “This is still a young team overall. But we told our O-line to take over and they did. Just a tremendous effort by those guys.”
However, the opening drives did give plenty of causes for alarm. Several untimely penalties snuffed out two potential Gainesville scoring drives early. A 67-yard punt return by Lenny Chatman was called back on a personal foul; a 35-yard run by Williams was called back for holding, and three plays later a 19-yard touchdown run by Brooks was nullified by a holding call.
That drive eventually ended in a 38-yard Giovanni Martinez field goal for a 3-0 Gainesville lead with just 36 seconds left in the first quarter.
But the Bulldogs also shook off some opening-game rust as Rico Harden blew through and around the Gainesville defense for a 71-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. The Bulldogs then held Gainesville on downs and used that to spark a 61-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard TD pass from Logan Hickman to Trippe Moore to push the lead to 14-3 with 3:01 left in the half.
Just when it looked like Mary Persons was grabbing control, the Red Elephants needed just one play to answer. On a beautiful ball fake, Williams found a wide-open Chatman 20 yards behind the Mary Persons defense for an easy 67-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 14-10.
Three plays later Ken Hester picked off Hickman at the Gainesville 29 and that jump-started a quick Red Elephants drive. Brown ripped off a 34-yard run and Naim Cheeks moved them to the Bulldogs 7 with a 22-yard bulldoze run up the middle. Brooks capped it with a 7-yard scoring run with just 40 seconds left and an eventual 17-14 halftime lead.
The third quarter opened with Gainesville driving to the Bulldogs 6 before settling for a 24-yard Martinez field goal for a 20-14 lead.
While the offense was chewing up a solid Mary Persons defense, the Gainesville defense put the clamps on the Bulldogs offense, especially in the second half. Mary Persons managed just 43 total yards and only two first downs after halftime. The Bulldogs’ only second-half points came on a crazy 78-yard kickoff return by Harden on an onsides kick from the Mary Persons 45.
It was an area of concern coming off a disappointing effort in last week’s scrimmage against North Hall.
“We ran the same defense we’ve been running all summer,” Webb said. “North Hall can really get you disoriented with their wing-T so we just made sure we stayed with what we know how to do. They did a great job.”
Appropriately, Gainesville sealed the win running out the final 5:25 of the game, including a gutsy fake field attempt on 4th-and-4 at the Bulldogs 12. Starting linebacker Yusif Ali took a reverse around the right side to pick up the first down to put the finishing touches on one of the bigger upsets in recent memory for the Red Elephants.
“This was a big, big win for us,” Webb said. “We talked after the North Hall scrimmage that execution is what win games. The guys executed very well most of the night.
“Now, the challenge will be for them to stay humble and hungry for next week. But really I’m just so proud of the guys and the way they battled against a team that beat them up pretty good last year.”
| Mary Persons | 0 | 14 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
| Gainesville | 3 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 27 |
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
G -- G. Martinez 38 FG 3-0, 0:36
Second Quarter
M -- Harden 71 run (Rivera kick) 7-3, 11:48
M -- Moore 9 pass from Hickman (Rivera kick) 14-3, 3:01
G -- Chatman 67 pass from Williams (Martinez kick) 14-10, 2:49
G -- Brooks 7 run (Martinez kick) 17-14, 0:40
Third Quarter
G -- G. Martinez 24 FG 20-14, 8:46
G -- Miller 34 pass from Williams (Martinez kick) 27-14, 5:25
M -- Harden 78 kickoff return (Rivera kick) 27-21, 5:12
