Friday, March 29, 2024

Hornets, Hunter get first win in thrilling fashion

Posted

The rallying cry for the Gatesville Hornets football program is “on the anvil” – a reference to an unformed piece of metal being thrown into the fire then pounded and shaped into a tool ready for work or a weapon ready for battle.

It’s meant to be an image of how this 2022 version of the Hornets would have to be shaped and formed by the heat that comes with the loss of a stellar senior class and the introduction of a new head coach and the infusion of a new culture.

No one could have imagined that the fires would come as quickly or burn as hot as they did on Friday in Taylor. But they did and the result was a Hornets team that started the move from unformed and unknown to potentially dangerous in the span of just one night.

Running back Rayshon Smith had 159 yards rushing, quarterback Jacob Newkirk threw for three touchdowns, and senior safety Ayden Necessary intercepted a pass with 22 seconds left in the game to seal a 22-21 win over the Ducks – the first of new head coach Aaron Hunter’s career.

“That was ‘OTA’. That’s what our culture is about. When things get hard, and things get difficult – and they did. There was a lot of difficult. There was a lot of yelling. A lot of bad. But you found a way,” Hunter told his team after the game. “You did that. For each other.”

The difficult, the bad, and the yelling started quickly for Gatesville when Taylor’s Jackson Meller returned the opening kickoff 77 yards for a touchdown and gave the Ducks a 7-0 lead.

After a short kickoff return of their own the Hornets first offensive possession featured two fumbles and ended with punter Carter Williams booting his first effort of the season with his heels on the back of his own end zone.

“I did not like how we started.” Hunter said after the game. “But what I did like was that they embraced the fight. Being OTA is fighting through adversity.”

After being staggered offensively and on special teams on their first two possessions, the Hornet defense took the field and punched back. Led by a stellar, swarming group of returners they went to work holding down the fort until the offense could find a groove.

Prior to the game defensive coordinator Jose Aguirre said the key to stopping Taylor was to contain the Ducks speedy and experienced skill position players. His defense more than came through disrupting the Ducks at the line of scrimmage and preventing big plays.

Senior defensive lineman Lucas Garcia was a menace with a quarterback sack and four tackles for a loss while junior Lawson Mooney led the team with 14 tackles including two for a loss, a sack and two pass breakups.

“Our defense played lights out all night. Coach Aguirre had a phenomenal plan in place,” Hunter said.

As the defense kept the Ducks’ scoring at bay, the offense began to click thanks to the feet of one Smith then found the end zone thanks to the hands of another Smith.

Down 7-0, the Hornets put together a scoring drive that featured Rayshon Smith dragging Ducks down the field on each carry then culminated when wide receiver Trevor Smith hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass from Newkirk. Smith’s reception featured an adjustment on the ball mid-air that he snagged just before getting a foot down in the end zone.

Rayshon Smith ran in the two-point conversion to give Gatesville an 8-7 lead it would hold into the third quarter when Newkirk hooked up with Lawson Mooney for a 12-yard scoring strike. On the score, Mooney took a quick strike then weaved past one Taylor defender and through another to give Gatesville a 14-7 lead.

“We looked like a totally different team from the first half to the second half, “Hunter said.

The Hornets looked poised to punch in another score and cushion their lead late in the third as they drove deep inside of Taylor territory. But a fumble inside the five-yard line gave the Ducks the ball back.

A subsequent, questionable roughing-the-passer penalty eventually led to a Taylor score and a 14-14 tie. The Ducks would score again to make it 21-14 midway through the fourth quarter.

Then, after trading scoreless possessions in the fourth, the Hornets got the ball back with a chance to tie.

Facing fourth down and long with just over a minute to play, Newkirk attempted to hit Trevor Smith in the end zone and Smith was able to draw a pass interference penalty and a fresh set of downs inside the Taylor five-yard line.

The Hornets wasted no time in finding the end zone as Newkirk sprinted left and threw a pass to senior Kyle Shafer, who stepped just inside the pylon to cut the deficit to 21-20. Faced with the chance to kick the game-tying extra point or go for the win, offensive coordinator Jacob Hunter dialed Shafer’s number again as Newkirk rolled right, then threw back to Shafer in the corner of the end zone and giving the Hornets a 22-21 lead.

Shafer, who has moved from wide receiver to A-back for the Hornets this season, has speed and size that has created enthusiasm among the offensive coaching staff. The senior had three catches for 24 yards and two TDs – all in the second half. 

 “I challenged him in the first half. He responded.” Hunter said.

Down 22-21, the Ducks’ bid for a miracle comeback was quickly snatched away by Necessary, who hauled in quarterback Ryan Valdez’s heave with 22 seconds left in the game, sending the Hornets on the field, sidelines, and stands into a frenzy.

“I saw that the quarterback was looking to throw it deep and that I needed to get over the top of the receiver. As the ball was in the air, I realized I had a chance to go pick it,” Necessary said. “Then when I caught it the first person to me was Lawson (Mooney) and he was screaming as loud as he could and going crazy. In the moment it all felt like a crazy dream, and I couldn’t believe it just happened.”

In addition to clinching a 1-0 start to the season, Necessary’s pick provided a bit of personal redemption. A knee injury in the first quarter of last year’s season opener against Llano cost him his entire junior season.  

“I was so happy to be back out there with all my friends and to cap it off with the game-sealing interception made that game so much more special. And for it to be coach Hunter’s first win as head coach made it more special,” he said.

Gatesville tallied three sacks and nine tackles for a loss in holding Taylor to just 87 yards of rushing offense and 216 yards of total offense. Tatum Taylor picked up the Hornets’ third sack and forced a fumble while Necessary, Thiele Alvarado, and Corey Burns added their own tackles for a loss. Daniel Chism also had a fumble recovery for the Hornets.

Offensively the Hornets had 357 yards of offense. Newkirk completed 15 of 30 passes for 141 yards. He found six different receivers. Trevor Smith had five catches for 37 yards and a score while Sean Aguilar had three catches for 53 yards.

In addition to Smith’s 159 yards rushing, Newkirk added 20 yards rushing while L.J. Hall chipped in 19 yards on the ground. For Smith, it was quite a debut.

“What’s scary is that he is still figuring it out. He’s young but he is a phenomenal kid,” Hunter said. “Right now, he’s not very well-known. But he’s about to be.”

The Hornets will look for win No. 2 of the Hunter era on Friday as they welcome state-ranked Glen Rose to McKamie Stadium. The Hornets have lost to Glen Rose in each of the last three seasons, including 41-10 in 2021.