By Kyle LoJacono
The Gaither football team won a season opener for the first time since 2006 with a last-minute 24-21 victory at Alonso Sept. 1.
The Cowboys (1-0) started their final possession on the 41-yard line with less than two minutes remaining. Gaither sophomore quarterback Alex McGough said he got some words of encouragement as he took the field.
“The defense believed that we were going to go down and score,” McGough said. “They got us the ball back with a couple minutes left, and as we were going on the field they said they knew we’d score. The trust was there.”
McGough guided the offense down to the six-yard line before calling Vu Le’s number in the huddle. The senior just ran across the goal line with 16 seconds remaining for his second score of the night.
“I couldn’t believe he got in,” McGough said. “I thought he was stuffed. He got grabbed at the three(-yard line). When I saw the touchdown sign I was overjoyed.”
The backfield combination of Jamari Cord, Shug Oyegunle and Le, all seniors, racked up 270 yards of total offense.
McGough finished the night 12-of-20 passing for 229 yards and a 66-yard touchdown to Oyegunle, while running for 50. McGough credited the offensive line for giving him time to throw and the backs holes to run through.
“We’ve built a lot of confidence with the offense,” McGough said. “We’ve been putting in a lot of reps at practice, and everything came together in that last drive.”
McGough said he was proud of how both the offense and defense stepped up in the season opening victory.
“It’s huge because last year there we games when we’d score like seven points and the defense would have to do everything, and then in the playoffs against Durant we had to score a lot to win,” McGough said. “This game the offense and defense were both clicking.”
Gaither hosts Leto Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
—The Laker/Lutz News Correspondent Andy Warrener contributed to this report
