Gilmer High wrapped up its nonregion football schedule with its third blowout victory.
The Ringgold Tigers were the latest to fall, and they met their demise against the Bobcats at Huff-Mosley Memorial Stadium last Friday.
The Cats were on top of their game on both sides of the ball, and the previously undefeated Tigers found themselves down early. While RHS reached the end zone in the third quarter, Gilmer kept scoring and came away with a merciful 31-7 win.
For head coach Paul Standard and the Bobcats, it was important for them to stay the course once things did not go their way.
“It’s what we talked about before the game, and I told them, ‘I know that we will have arrived at the next step when we can play to our abilities in a big game,’” he said. “The second part we talked about was that something bad is going to happen during the game. Thankfully, not many bad things happened, and it was a great night for us.”
Gilmer’s defense smothered Ringgold, who totaled a paltry 128 yards. Aside from one Tiger touchdown, the Bobcat defense forced four punts, a turnover on downs and safety Grant Ballew was there to make an interception in the second half.
In the first half, RHS ran just 13 plays and punted on all three possessions. GHS senior Aspen Hataway continued to be the Bobcats’ top tackler and finished with 13. Fellow linebacker and freshman Peyton Chancey was in double digits with 11 total stops.
Gilmer’s offense topped out at 446 yards, and its linemen paved the way for 386 on the ground. Fullback Wyatt Stokes was the hammer that continually pounded the Tigers’ defense. He became the first Bobcat to top 100 rushing yards this season, and his night ended with 153 on 30 attempts.
Quarterback Issac Rellinger added 81 rushing yards to go with 60 through the air, and halfback Hunter Britain ran for 75.
The Bobcats caught the Tigers napping on the first play of the game. While their defense stacked the box, Rellinger passed to a wide open Ryder Wofford down the middle of the field. The 60-yard reception gave GHS first and goal at the 9-yard line. On third down, halfback Kyle Cowart took a pitch untouched around the left side for a 5-yard touchdown.
Kicker Noah Turner had another perfect night and added the extra point.
GHS led 7-0 1:50 into the game, and the margin was about to get wider. Gilmer started its second drive by feeding the ball to Stokes and Britain. After six rushes to advance into Tiger Territory, Rellinger was sacked for a 4-yard loss.
Facing third down and 12 from Ringgold’s 40, Cowart ran for 8 yards before Stokes hit the middle for 5 more and a first down. Two plays later, Britain made his way around the left edge, spun through some traffic and outraced the Tiger defense for a 32-yard touchdown.
The 64-yard, 10-play drive pushed Gilmer’s lead to 14 points with 58 seconds left in the opening quarter. GHS gained two first downs on its next drive but fumbled the ball back to RHS.
Ringgold’s third punt of the night came after Bobcat Gavin Daley sacked Tiger quarterback Garrett Edgar on third down and 6. Gilmer’s offense returned to the field at its 20 with 4:12 remaining in the half.
GHS started from its 20 and kept the ball on the ground with Stokes as its feature back. The Cats bullied the Tigers’ defense all the way down to their 21 and advanced to the 16 on a Ringgold encroachment penalty.
Turner split the uprights with a 33-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead as the second quarter expired.
Edgar hit a streaking Kishaun Taylor down the sideline for a 79-yard touchdown on the third play of the third quarter. The score cut the Cats’ lead to 10 points less than a minute into the half.
“We’re up 17-0, and in the blink of an eye, it’s 17-7,” Standard said. “They have a guy that can go the distance, and the same M.O. could have happened, but this group of kids and coaches wouldn’t allow that to happen.
“One of the top parts of this game was the next drive by the offense, and then the defense put the clamps on them again and we were subsequently able to take control of the game.”
That next drive spanned 80 yards on 11 plays. Stokes rushed for 34 yards on the possession as GHS moved across midfield. Rellinger then kept the ball around the right corner for a 32-yard touchdown scamper.
GHS led 24-7 with 5:25 left in the third, and the Tigers’ next series was cut short when Ballew perfectly dissected the play and intercepted Edgar.
Stokes was back and running on first down for a 13-yard gain. Halfback Douglas Callihan and Cowart swapped carries to move GHS to Ringgold’s 22. From there, Chancey did the rest right up the middle. His touchdown run capped the 53-yard, four-play possession as Gilmer’s lead swelled to 31-7 with 2:14 remaining in the quarter.
Ringgold’s second drive of the half stalled at Gilmer’s 37. The Cats then turned the ball over on downs before the Tigers’ final punt of the night.
Gilmer took over at its 22 with 7:13 left in the game. Rellinger broke loose for a 51-yard keeper on the sixth play. He was eventually dragged down at the Tigers’ 5-yard line. An ensuing 4-yard Stokes run put Gilmer inches away from the goal line with over 2:30 on the clock.
Standard opted to kneel three straight times. Ringgold received a final fruitless possession with 56 seconds left in the game.
The win improved Gilmer to 3-1. Standard celebrated his 61st birthday and was doused with ice water and serenaded by players following the victory.
GHS is off this week and the Cats begin region play next Friday at Wesleyan (2-2).
“We want to continue to work on the passing game because there will be a night where we won’t be able to run it that well,” Standard said of their bye week plans.
“We’ve got to continue to develop some depth because we have guys going both ways. Defensively, we want to continue to learn the tweaks we’ve put in.”