No kidding around, final 6-7A stretch for Red Elephants will decide the season

GAINESVILLE — Whether we believed him or not -- he is a coach after all and they aren’t usually prone to wild exaggerations (I’ll wait for the eye roll to end) -- Heath Webb apparently wasn’t kidding when he said Region 6-7A would be like a Wild West shootout.

Five of the 12 games so far have been decided either on the final series or in the final minute of the game.

“I’ve been telling y’all for months that this region would be tough and that anyone could win on any Friday night,” Webb reminded us on Monday. “It’s a very good region top to bottom. If anything, I feel it’s even better than I thought it would be.”

So I guess that makes his Red Elephants even better than he, and probably most in the area, thought they would be as well?

Gainesville (5-2, 3-0 Region 6-7A) is tied with Denmark (3-3, 3-0 Region 6-7A) atop the region standings at the halfway point. Preseason prognostications had the Red Elephants anywhere from challenging for a title to middle of the pack to missing out on the playoffs all together.

The first half of the region schedule has Gainesville right where Webb was hoping they would be. Two of the region wins involved last-second theatrics -- five points in the final 10 seconds in a 33-28 win over Forsyth Central and a late defensive stand in a 42-35 win over Lambert. The other came last week in a 28-14 victory over South Forsyth in perhaps their most complete game of the season.

One more win would guarantee them their first winning season since 2015 and also clinches a 21st consecutive playoff spot. Two wins likely assures them of their first home playoff game since 2015 (Class 5A). A clean sweep of West Forsyth, Denmark, and North Forsyth and they would capture their first region title since 2013 when Deshaun Watson roamed the Gainesville sideline.

So, what does Webb make of his group that has shown a penchant for late-game heroics?

“They make it exciting for sure. A little too exciting some times if you ask me,” Webb said. “But these guys have been playing in our system for three years now and we have some really good young talent so I felt like we’d be a pretty good team. I’m not all that surprised about where we are right now.

“I think the big thing is that we have a lot of confidence in the senior class and I think we’re probably better than I thought we would be because of the senior class and how much they have bought into what we want to do, the changes we’ve made in some areas, and their leadership.”

The Red Elephants, however, may face their toughest task so far when they play host to West Forsyth (4-3, 2-1 Region 6-7A) which many felt was the initial team to beat coming into the season. But the Wolverines were without sophomore starting quarterback Keegan Stover for three games. They’ve since reeled off two straight wins, including an overtime victory over South Forsyth.

But that’s not what worried Webb from as far back as the summer when discussing the Wolverines.

“They probably have the best lines of scrimmage in the region,” he said. “Line play at this level of football is the real difference between the great teams and everybody else. For us to have a chance we will have to get great line play on both sides of the ball. That’s where this game will be won.”

Maybe so. Gainesville’s line is anchored by senior Ole Miss-commit Cedrick Nicely and future big-time recruit Elijah Ruiz. They are instrumental in leading the classification’s sixth-best offense (249, 35.5 points per game) which is paced by quarterback Gionni Williams and freshman running back sensation Naim Cheeks. The Red Elephants have scored fewer than 27 points just once all season.

The West Forsyth defense (133, 19.0 ppg) has given up more than 28 points just twice, one of those in that 41-34 overtime win over South Forsyth.

The secret weapon for Gainesville, though, may be its special teams. Senior punter Triston Lyon helped set up a wild finish against Forsyth Central with a deep punt pinning the Bulldogs and giving them a chance to stage the comeback. The punt team has yet to allow a single return yard on the season. The punt return team has blocked four kicks on the season, including three against Stockbridge in their opener, two of which were returned for touchdowns. Kicker Giovanni Martinez booted the game-winning field goal over Forsyth Central.

“Special teams is so, so important and we feel we have a great unit kicking and receiving,” Webb said. “If it comes down to special teams I feel great with how we’re playing. Triston and that unit have been amazing. Our special teams have won us three games for sure.”

Webb was very direct in saying that the Red Elephants could win all three, lose all three, or win some combination in between over the final three weeks of the season. Just what you would expect a coach to say this time of year.

“I feel right now we’re a playoff team,” he said. “But this is a very tough stretch to finish the season. I would like to think we can win at least one but we’re going to have to play our best game every week. We’d be very disappointed if that didn’t happen.

“Our job as coaches is to try and make sure that doesn’t happen.”