By Kyle LoJacono
There were few pretty moments during Gaither’s 22-6 victory at Class 7A-District 7 rival Steinbrenner Oct. 8.
Heavy rain and poor drainage rendered a field more like a bog than a football gridiron, preventing either team from sustaining any offense. The Cowboys (4-1, 2-0) also committed 13 penalties for 125 yards and gave up two turnovers.
“It was ugly, extremely ugly, but the effort was there on all three phases,” said Gaither coach Jason Stokes. “I’m proud of my kids finding a way to get it done.”
Stokes tried almost every option to get his offense going, including running several plays with running back Josh Bell under center replacing starting quarterback Alex McGough.
“We couldn’t run, so we tried to do some short passes,” Stokes said. “Couldn’t do that, and then we had a turnover. It was ugly. We’re not even going to watch the film.”
It was the Cowboys defense that carried the day.
Gaither forced five turnovers and sacked Warriors (1-4, 0-2) junior quarterback Curtis Fitch five times. The Cowboys allowed only 119 yards of total offense in the contest.
“The defense played at a whole ‘nother level tonight,” Stokes said. “They’re the same way in practice. They practice with intensity. They fly around to the ball. They call themselves the wolf pack. They’re howling in practice all the time and in pregame, and they lived up to it.”
The defense set the tone early, forcing three-and-outs on Steinbrenner’s first four drives.
Senior linebacker Jamari Cord started Gaither’s turnover parade, scooping up a Jake Carroll fumble with 2:40 remaining in the first half. Cord recovered another in the fourth quarter.
Junior defensive back Javon Hammond took the ball away from the Warriors three times, all on interceptions in the second half. He caught one more pass than Fitch completed to his team.
“I knew it was starting to get late, so I knew they’d be throwing it deep,” Hammond said. “I just played deep and reacted to it in the air. … It’s so exciting getting a multiple pick game. We have a strong defense. We play together. When one makes a tackle, we all rally to the ball. It’s fun playing in this defense.”
The Cowboys have forced 14 Warriors’ turnovers the last two years and improve their record against the Lutz program to 3-0.
The contest started Oct. 5, but lightning and heavy rain pushed it to the following Monday. Gaither got on the board before the weather delay when Bell ran 43 yards on his squad’s second offensive play.
“It was a jet play, and one of their linebackers was overshooting, I guess to try and stop our speed,” said Bell, a senior. “I just cut up the field, and just ran as hard as I could.”
Bell found wide receiver Marcus Brown for the two-point conversion.
The Cowboys offense had trouble moving the ball on a soaked and sloppy field three days later.
“This field was horrible,” Bell said. “It’s so muddy, and you can’t really do anything.”
Gaither had to punt after three plays on Oct. 8 and looked like it would have to do the same on its second drive after the delay.
Shug Oyegunle had other plans.
The senior ran a post route, snagged McGough’s pass over the middle and took the ball 76 yards for a touchdown to put the Cowboys ahead 15-0 going into halftime.
Steinbrenner got some life after Bryce Jones blocked a punt just after the start of the second half. Daniel Villar fell on the ball in the end zone to close the score to 15-6.
The home team’s crowd started to get back into the contest as Gaither went three-and-out on its next two drives. It would take another big play by one of its defenders to seal the win.
Junior defensive back Amani Oruwariye blocked a punt with 2:52 left in the third quarter to set the Cowboys up 14 yards from the goal line.
“I just edged off their No. 32 (Villar) and just fought through it,” Oruwariye said. “When I felt it hit my hand I just thought we need to put up some more points.”
McGough hit Bell on a 7-yard touchdown pass three plays later to go ahead 22-8.
“That definitely put the game out of reach,” Stokes said. “It was kind of touch and go for awhile, and with conditions like this you really never know what’s going to happen. I think that kind of iced it.”
It was the first multiple touchdown game for Bell since transferring from Blake this season.
“I was just feeling that I had to go all out for my team,” Bell said. “We need all these district games so we get to the playoffs and get some home games so we don’t have to go on the road all the way to states.”
Gaither hosts East Bay Oct. 12 while Steinbrenner hosts Riverview. Both games start at 7:30 p.m.
