Gilmer High flag football has continued to gel and show improvement in its inaugural season.
GHS celebrated its senior players last Thursday as the Rome Wolves and Dawson County Tigers were in town for games.
After a scoreless first half versus RHS, both offenses found some footing in the second half. The Cats scored the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth and held on for a 13-6 win.
Dawson’s productive second quarter allowed the Tigers to lead by 12 at halftime. Gilmer’s offense reached the end zone in the third and fourth quarters, but the Cats were unable to complete the comeback in a 25-20 loss.
“We came out and got going pretty well versus Rome, but it did take a while to get on the board,” said head coach Chad Miller. “Defenses on both sides were playing pretty well. Rome had some good athletes out there who were pretty tough. We’ve got to pull flags a little better and execute a little better. Overall, we played fairly well.
“I think we played better against Dawson. We really got our offense going but just came up a little short against Dawson. Other than giving up some big plays, we played pretty well against them.”
Macie Baxter scored Gilmer’s opening touchdown against Rome in the third quarter, and the Wolves tied the score at 7-7 in the fourth. Mattie Jones then connected with Jocelyn McCollum for Gilmer’s game-winning touchdown.
In the nightcap versus Dawson, the game was scoreless after a quarter. Jessie Wheeler broke up a pass that was intercepted by Baxter, which ended Dawson’s first possession of the game.
Dawson went ahead 6-0 with a 37-yard touchdown pass, and the Cats answered with a long pass of their own. Jones’ 52-yard completion to Maggie Thompson advanced GHS to Dawson’s 4-yard line. Lynzi Holcomb hauled in a 2-yard touchdown pass and Thompson caught the conversion for a 7-6 lead.
The Tigers cashed in with a 1-yard touchdown run, and a 26-yard pass and lateral for another touchdown gave them a 19-7 halftime lead.
Jones’ 18-yard pass to Baxter added 6 more points to the Cats’ tally and Thompson was there for the conversion.
A 41-yard run extended Dawson’s lead to 25-14 at the start of the fourth quarter.
GHS continued to have success through the air, and this time Jones and Wheeler hooked up for a 66-yard touchdown. The conversion failed, and GHS trailed 25-20 with seven minutes to play.
The Cats received a final possession but were unable to pull ahead.
Gilmer is 3-4 on the season and kicks off region games Thursday at Heritage at 5:30 p.m.
“We’re really coming together,” Miller said. “These were our last pre-region games. The region games that count start this week. We finally started to pull things together and hopefully we’ll be ready for region play.”