GAINESVILLE — It started as if Gainesville was going to rack up 500-yard passing. Then Johns Creek cranked up the rushing attack.
The Gladiators (1-0) used a combination of the old school ground and pound football and the spread to roll past the Red Elephants, 26-10 -- in a lightning-shortened game -- at Bobby Gruhn Field in the Corky Kell Classic on opening Friday night.
Mother Nature forced the game's end with 9:27 left in the fourth quarter.
Gainesville (0-1) went up 10-0 in the first quarter, but with the bruising rushing attack of Tylan Johnson, who finished with 144 yards rushing and timely pass plays from Kyle Durham, the Gladiators scored 12 unanswered points to take a 19-10 lead in the third quarter. Durham finished 8-18-132 passing yards and two touchdowns. He rushed for another 34.
"When you get a high school kid at 220 is a load," Webb said about Johnson. "You factor in an inexperienced defense, and it was a recipe for that guy to have a big night. I felt like we competed hard and did some good things, but that kid is going to have a good season for them."
But it wasn't all bad for the Red Elephants. Sophomore quarterback Baxter Wright completed his first three passes, rushed for another six yards, and drove Big Red to the Gladiators 25 before tossing an interception. Wright finished the night 16-for-24, 138 yards passing yards and another 38 on the ground.
"You know when you have a sophomore quarterback that you're going to go through some growing pains, but he did some really nice things," Webb said. "We feel really good about what we're going to do moving forward -- he's going to get better each week. We wanted to win this one, but he showed enough promise tonight that we feel good about the coming weeks."
Also of note, Gainesville drove inside Gladiators' territory five times, Khaliq Maddox batted a Durham pass in the air and hauled it in for an interception to end Johns Creek drive before halftime.
Early on, it was all Gainesville on both offense and defense, stuffing Johns Creek on its first two drives.
The defense held the Gladiators on three straight plays, forcing a punt and setting up Big Red's best drive of the night -- a seven-play, 53-yard drive, capped with a Marquis Ross 15-yard run for a score to go up 7-0 with 5:17 in the first quarter. It was one of two scoring drives for the Red Elephant.
The Red Elephants started marching again after the defense held the Gladiators to another three and out series. This one started with 4:16 left in the first quarter on the Red Elephants' 36. Naim Cheeks, who finished with 87 yards, sparked the drive with a 44-yard run off the right side of the line -- 47 on the drive, Wright added seven yards on the ground and hit Ja'Quez Sims on a six-yard strike before stalling out at the 17. Giovanni Martinez nailed a 27-yard field goal to push Gainesville to a 10-0 lead.
The Gladiators, however, found a groove on the next drive, led by Johnson, who had runs of 14, 11, 3, 2, setting up Antonio Gilliam's two-yard touchdown run to cap the 70-yard drive and close the gap, 10-7.
Johns Creek added a field goal later in the quarter with 3:47 remaining, a 28-yarder from McRae Ball.
Gainesville's offensive struggles continue as the Gladiators continue to bring the pressure, sacking Wright for a nine-yard loss, setting up a fourth down inside the Red Elephant 10. Johns Creek's Josh Thompson came off the edge, unblocked, to block the punt for a safety and a 12-10 lead with less than two minutes to go in the half.
Before the lightning delay, the Red Elephants went on an eight-play drive but turned it over on downs at the Gladiator 26. Later in the half, after Durham tossed a 20-yard TD pass to Brandon Palmer to go up 19-10, Gainesville put together a 17-play drive but ended on a missed Martinez field goal off the right upright.
"It's frustrating to move the ball up and down the field and not score or get in the red zone and get a holding penalty," Webb said. "So, there are some bright spots there ... the fact that we were able to move the ball as well as we did. It's just frustrating not being able to finish. Obviously, that's going to be a focus for us moving forward."
Johns Creek's finished its scoring with a 51-yard pass to Thompson, who broke a tackle and rushed 42 yards to pay dirt with 9:27 to go.
