GAINESVILLE, Ga. — It sounds innocent enough on the surface, but Josh Niblett’s declaration that his Gainesville squad “isn’t anywhere close to where we want to be” should send nervous shockwaves to the rest of the teams on the Red Elephants’ schedule.
Despite amassing just 198 total yards of offense and piling up 121 yards in penalties, Gainesville made somewhat easy work of Mountain View in a 30-7 victory at City Park on Friday.
The win moved the Red Elephants to 2-0 on the season for the first time since 2009. They now have wins over a perennial playoff stalwart (Marist) and now a Class 7A team.
Niblett left Alabama powerhouse Hoover to revitalize the Gainesville program. It certainly looks like things are on course early.
“Once we get consistent offensively and stop shooting ourselves in the foot and continue to play sound on defense and make some plays on special teams, we can be a really good football team,” he said. “But we’re not there yet. We just need to come back next week and go to work.”
However, all three units had their moments.
A fast, hard-hitting Gainesville defense swarmed the bigger Bears from the opening kickoff, holding them to 154 total yards, only 28 in the second half, and picking off three passes, including a 28-yard pick-6 by Cash O’Callahan on the second play of the fourth quarter to put the exclamation point on the win.
“We made some great plays on defense, and the two interceptions were huge for us,” Niblett said. “Our kids believe in what we’re doing. We’re fast on defense, and they do a really good job of closing things up really quick. It’s hard to run east-to-west on us. I like where we are on defense.”
O’Callahan’s pick came just two plays after Naim Cheeks, who had been held just 6 yards for the game on 10 carries, broke loose for a 53-yard touchdown run on the final play of the third quarter. Those two plays within 53 seconds turned a nervous 16-7 lead into a no-doubter.
Quarterback Baxter Wright was an efficient 11-of-13 for 120 yards with two TD passes and one interception. But with several new offensive additions, particularly in the receiving corp, it is still a work-in-progress.
The Red Elephants were held to just 57 yards, zero (0) on the ground, in the first half, and trailed 7-3 with just over a minute left. Coming off a minus-7-yard second-half performance in their win over Marist last week, it was a unit that was still trying to find its way.
And the Bears looked ready to add on to their lead. But the Gainesville special teams gave them a huge spark. Sophomore Julius Columbus blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt with Zyrion Harrison snatching it out of the air and returning it 76 yards for a score and a 9-7 lead after a missed extra point.
“That was just a huge play,” Niblett said of the blocked field goal. “We want to be great on special teams. That gave us a chance to snatch the momentum in the second half. We came out and played better on offense in the third quarter.”
Gainesville had 122 yards in the third as the offense began to take control of the game. Dre Raven’s interception set up a 21-yard touchdown pass from Wright to Sky Niblett for a 16-7 lead midway through the third. Carmelo Byrd also had an interception for Gainesville in the first half.
Niblett said they’re close.
“We’re still very young on offense and a little inexperienced, and there are a lot of new pieces and moving parts. But we’re really, really close to breaking some big plays,” he said.
The first half was either a defensive battle, two struggling offenses trying to find their way, sloppy play, or a combination of all four. The key numbers were 168 yards in penalties compared to 174 yards of total offense combined.
The Red Elephants were held to zero (0) yards on the ground, but that included a big sack of Wright and a botched handoff that totaled 24 yards on consecutive plays. Cheeks had just 5 yards on 7 carries. Wright was 6-of-8 through the air for 57 yards.
The offense generated just a 27-yard field goal by Eric Guerra on the final play of the first quarter for a 3-0 lead.
The Bears were only slightly better. They managed 33 yards on the ground but needed 18 rushes as a speedy Gainesville defense constantly smothered them.
Bears’ quarterback Mason Kid was just 3-of-9 passing but accounted for 84 yards, including a long 58-yard strike to Eric Hart that set up a 1-yard TD run by Matthew Haber, which gave Mountain View a 7-3 lead with 5:07 left in the half.
Big, untimely penalties hurt both teams in the opening 24 minutes. Both punt teams roughed the kicker once, keeping stalled drives alive, as did seven combined personal foul penalties. The Bears had 9 penalties for 92 yards, while the Red Elephants had 6 penalties for 76 yards in the first half.
SCORING SUMMARY
Mtn. View........0....7......0....0 -- 7
Gainesville......3....6....14....7 -- 30
First Quarter
G -- Guerra 27 FG 3-0, 0:00
Second Quarter
M -- Hart 1 run (Smith kick) 7-3, 5:07
G -- Harrison 76 FG return (kick failed) 9-7, 1:16
Third Quarter
G -- Niblett 21 pass from Wright (Guerra kick) 16-7, 6:42
G -- Cheeks 53 run (Guerra kick) 23-7, 0:00
Fourth Quarter
G -- OCallaghan 28 INT return (Guerra kick) 30-7, 11:07
