Gibson provides spark to lift Seymour to big win
By David Klein
The Seymour Eagles came out running the football with conviction Friday night at South-Doyle. Running back Ryan Gibson time and time again ran the ball up the middle and converted third downs. Gibson ran the ball 23 times for 98 yards and one touchdown in the first half and finished with 210 yards and two touchdowns as the Eagles won 27-14 over the Cherokees in a Region 2-4A game.
Seymour got the ball rolling on the opening drive of the game first with powerful runs from Gibson. He picked up a 4th-and-1 and then on 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line, he barreled into the end zone for a touchdown for a 7-0 lead. The drive had taken up 7 minutes and 14 seconds.
South-Doyle promptly fumbled the football on its first offensive possession. However, the Eagles could not do anything with the turnover and South-Doyle got the football back in its own territory.
The Cherokees couldn’t go anywhere and had to punt the ball back to Seymour. The Eagles returned the punt into the Cherokees’ territory. Quarterback Madden Guffey threw a 20-yard pass to Connor Ogle and he got the ball down to the 2-yard line. Two plays later, Guffey could not find anyone open and ran it into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown. Seymour led 13-0 with 3:48 left in the first half. An unsportsmanlike penalty on the Eagles forced a long extra point, and the extra point would be no good. Seymour led 13-0 at halftime.
In the second half, Seymour again took advantage of South-Doyle’s poor offense. Guffey found Mason Brown over the middle for a 17-yard touchdown pass. The score made it 20-0 Seymour with 43 seconds left in the third quarter.
“I think we had a chip on our shoulders to prove that we can throw the ball,” Guffey said, emphasizing that the Eagles can throw the football and not just run.
“He was patient,” Seymour Coach Patrick Clark said of his quarterback. “He’s just smooth, calm, he’s getting more comfortable with his receivers.”
The Cherokees were finally able to put a drive together in the fourth quarter. South-Doyle used nearly six minutes of clock and on 4th-and-goal at the Eagles’ 1-yard line, Ramilleeyon Crenshaw powered it in for the touchdown to cut Seymour’s lead to 20-7 with 6:35 left in the game.
However, Seymour put a halt to the Cherokees’ momentum on its next offensive possession. After a timeout, Gibson raced 61 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown to put the Eagles up 27-7 with 3:23 left in the fourth quarter.
“We put in that extra tight end wing set and we added an extra blocker and we just ran down and kept pushing and running out the clock,” Gibson said of the Eagles’ offense on the night.
South-Doyle quarterback Cade Carr threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Kamariyon Rice with 1:35 left in the fourth quarter to provide the final scoring of the night and make the final score 27-14 Seymour.
“When we beat Sullivan East, it’ like a big sigh,” Clark said, of snapping a long-term losing streak last week at Sullivan East. “I told my wife, the next one we win, you’re gonna see that elation and that’s what we saw. We got to get back on our feet. Big win, we’re proud of them. Get back on our feet and start grinding it out. They’re workers. I’m proud of them.”
Seymour (2-7) hosts Carter on Thursday (Halloween) and is in the Class 4A playoffs with a win. South-Doyle (1-8) hosts Region 2-4A first place Anderson County on Thursday.
