Tuesday, December 10, 2024
A pivotal defensive touchdown, a second quarter scoring surge, and a heaping dose of Rayshon Smith has Gatesville in the third round of the playoffs for the first time in ten seasons.
Smith ran for 218 yards - his fifth game of the season with more than 200 yards rushing - and scored two touchdowns as the Hornets took down West Columbia 42-27 for their first area title since 2015.
The Hornets will play Sealy on Nov. 29 in the regional semi-finals at Merrill Green Stadium in Bryan. The Tigers upset state-ranked Hamshire-Fannett in the area round 21-17.
While it was Smith who slammed the door in the fourth quarter, the win was a showcase of a team that is clicking in all three phases of the game. The Hornets used big plays on defense, offense, and special teams to thwart any threat the Roughnecks posed during a frantic second quarter.
West Columbia took a 7-0 lead on their first possession, but Smith scored on a 24-yard run to tie the game at 7-7 after the first quarter. Gatesville took their first lead 14-7 when Gehrig Keeton scrambled 22-yards for a score early in the second quarter.
The Roughnecks drove to the Gatesville 16-yard line and were threatening to tie the game when a fumbled pitch was scooped up by Amos Phillips at the 27-yard line and returned 73 yards for a touchdown. Phillips was escorted to the end zone by a wall of Hornets and picked up a block from Logan Biggs that allowed him to cruise the final 50 yards of the return with no Roughnecks in sight.
West Columbia came back with a score to cut the lead to 21-14, but a huge kick return from Grady Keeton put the Hornets right back into scoring position. Keeton raced 42-yards through the center of the Roughnecks kickoff team before being brought down at the West Columbia 34-yard line.
Two plays later, Gehrig Keeton hit Jack Erwin for a 34-yard touchdown strike, and Hector Silva’s extra point gave the Hornets a 28-14 lead. Biggs picked off a Cade Thoe pass attempt to extinguish West Columbia’s last threat of the first half.
The Roughnecks made it a one-score game at 28-21 in the third quarter, but Keeton and Erwin hooked up again for 33 yards and a score on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it 35-21.
Erwin finished the game with three catches for 79 yards and two scores and has eight catches for 205 yards and three scores in two playoff games. Keeton has also played his best football of the year since the playoffs began. The junior signal-caller is 20-for-30 for 302 yards and four touchdowns in Gatesville’s two playoff wins.
A Gatesville stop on West Columbia’s next drive meant that Hunter could hand the ball to Smith to ice the game as the senior star gained every yard of the Hornets scoring push.
He punished the West Columbia defense to the tune of 11 yards per carry on the final drive and capped the win with a three-yard plunge. Silva’s sixth extra point of the night made it 42-21 in favor of the Hornets.
Smith’s 218-yard night ups his season total to 2040 yards and he has scored 28 touchdowns in 12 games. After eclipsing the 4,000-yard career rushing yard mark on Oct. 24 in a win over China Spring, Smith now sits just 168 yards away from the 5,000 yard mark.
The Hornets last advanced to the third round of the playoffs in 2015 when they took down Taylor and La Vernia before falling to district-rival China Spring 21-14. A win over Sealy would push Gatesville into the fourth round of the playoffs for the first time since making the final eight in 2013. That Hornet team stormed to a 13-0 record before falling to Graham 40-35 in the state quarterfinals.
Should the Hornets win over the Tigers they will either face La Vega or Silsbee. Gatesville lost 35-14 to La Vega in the district opener this season and lost to Silsbee 34-10 in the area playoffs in 2023.
