Posted 12:49 am Saturday, December 12, 2009
Top-Ranked Gilmer Trying To Finish It Off
By SHANE STARK
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
DALLAS -- Gilmer's Jeff Traylor weighed the present and past to offer a history lesson in August. Upon the arrival of his 10th season, the Buckeyes head coach had experienced two sides of the fence when it comes to expectations.
On one side, pastures were green and pundits statewide expected Gilmer to be good, but perhaps not great. And on another, it was so green that everyone projected the Buckeyes to be the state's best, the clearest form of greatness.
"All you've got to do is look at 2004," Traylor said. "We won a state championship and we were not ranked at all; we weren't in the top 25. In 2006, we were preseason No. 1 and didn't win a playoff game.
"Sometimes it's good to read those history lessons because history has a way of repeating itself."
That history, however, won't get repeated this season, during which the Buckeyes spent the last four months trying their best to avoid looking ahead, not to mention falling back. Gilmer, which began their schedule No. 1 in the state, has the chance to end the playoffs at the very same spot.
Tonight, the Buckeyes (14-0) meet eighth-ranked Abilene Wylie (12-1) in the Class 3A Division I final at Ford Stadium, located on the SMU campus. It's their final step toward possibly matching the 2004 team's magical and unbeaten run, but true to the program's seemingly boundless rise, the Buckeyes see no alternate way to go nowadays.
"We have a lot of tradition that we have to (live up to)," senior Kedon Franklin said this week. "It's kind of like a load on us that we have to carry around to the next year, start of district all the way through the playoffs. (Nine-time) district champs back-to-back. It starts there and goes on through the playoffs."
Those playoffs have gone on past Thanksgiving and to December in four of the last six seasons for the Buckeyes, 1-1 in championship games along the way. Gilmer has been eliminated in the quarterfinals on two occasions, most recently last season when it fell by three points to eventual Division II champion Carthage.
That ending -- and to be so close once again -- motivated the Buckeyes during the off season. So, should they produce another title, "It's going to be a great accomplishment for us," senior Daniel McLaren said. "We've been there a couple of times. ...it's a big accomplishment to win it, finishing out the deal."
Gilmer quarterback Darian Godfrey, a three-year starter, will make his second finals appearance after guiding the Buckeyes to the 2007 Division I championship game, in which the season ended in crushing fashion with a 38-13 loss to Liberty Hill. He played the game with an injured thumb that caused him problems throughout.
This season, the all-state senior has passed for 3,281 yard and 40 touchdowns to help the offense shatter the school mark for scoring. Godfrey has built a reputation for making plays with his feet and finding multiple receivers, evidenced by 15 players catching touchdown passes a year ago and eight catching 15 or more passes this season.
"On and off the field, he's a good guy," senior Paul Chesnut said. "He's a really good athlete, he's smart -- football smart and school smart. ...He's a play maker. He's not a selfish person. He likes to get everyone the ball and everybody a chance to make plays."
Godfrey's most frequent target has been sophomore Luke Turner, who has 40 receptions for 442 yards and eight touchdowns on the year. Senior Tristan Holt, the top play maker, has 36 receptions for 782 yards and 11 touchdowns, while seniors Braylon Webb and Tevin Godfrey have factored heavily into the aerial assault as well.
Wylie, meanwhile, will send a team onto the field tonight that's confident it will be the first to stop Godfrey and Co., who average 52.8 points a game. The Bulldogs defense has given up only 13.6 points an outing.
Like Gilmer, Wylie goes into every season with high expectations. The Bulldogs are also making their third finals appearance this decade, plus won the 3A Division I title in 2004, the same year the Buckeyes celebrated their state title.
"Hopefully we come out on top," Chesnutt said. "Abilene Wylie, they've got a lot of tradition but so do we.
"We've just got to execute and do what we've been doing all season, carry out the little things and be mentally prepared."
That means play Buckeye football, which is to focus on the opportunity at hand.
"We learned to take it one game at a time and not look toward the future," Tevin Godfrey said. "You basically take a lot of pride in it -- that's what keeps you going each week, every day in practice."
Said McLaren: "From the beginning of the season we've been pushing hard to make it this far. We've been practicing hard every day and coming out to do what we need to do to be a championship team."
