GC ready to show more vs. Raiders
The Gordon Central Warriors showed a glimpse of how far they have come during last Friday’s season opener against Murray County as they battled back to take a lead in the third quarter, but they couldn’t sustain the momentum and finish things off for the win. That will serve as a lesson learned as they move forward with the culture change under first-year head coach Cory Nix.
The next chance they will get to show progress is this Friday when they travel to take on Southeast Whitfield at 7:30 p.m. in the second of their three non-region contests to open the season. Nix said that while there are no moral victories, last Friday the 36-14 loss to the Indians definitely showed a lot of improvement.
“When you watch the film, to be honest, there were a lot of mistakes made and stuff that went on that we will have to fix,” said Nix. “But you could see the difference. It was 49-7 last year at the half against Murray County, and this year it was 10-0. And we came back and responded, took the lead and got on a high. But we still have to keep fighting after that. We can’t feel like we have won the game in the third quarter when there is a quarter and a half to go.
“I’ve told our kids that the first win we are going to get is going to be the toughest. We’re close, but we’re not there yet.”
The Raiders started the season off with a victory last Saturday night over Coahulla Creek. Southeast Whitfield fell behind 14-0 early in the contest but came back to dominate the rest of the game for a 46-20 victory. After several tough years, Southeast Whitfield coach Sean Gray has built the program back up as they have had a .500 or better record each of the last three seasons.
“I think they will be a tough bunch,” said Nix of the Raiders. “They have a kid that is committed to Georgia Tech that plays on the defensive line and another that plays defensive tackle that is a big physical kid. They will be tough to block. The defensive line is strong, and their defense as a whole is strong. On offense they have two backs that they use a lot, and they are both different in their skill sets but really good. They want to run it, but they can pass it well in situations also. They are a good team. They fought through adversity last week after getting down early in the game. They kept fighting and showed how tough they are.”
The Warriors’ Gauge Giddens was the team’s top weapon last Friday as he had an 85-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff of the second half as well as a 22-yard touchdown run to put his team in the lead. Several other players contributed big as well, including an interception from Branson Towe in the first half and some tough plays from quarterback/defensive back Brent Silvar and linebacker Cam Williams.
Nix said his team needs to play a cleaner game in order to be in it late against the Raiders on Friday.
“We’ve got to make less mistakes on offense, whether that be blocking the right guys or backs hitting the hole and trust- ing the hole…and we have to catch the ball when there are plays to be made in the passing game,” said Nix. “The plays were there several times last week, we just have to execute. We had some issues on defense as well with the defensive line running up the field rather than playing their assignments and confusion on the back end in the secondary that hurt us. We need to correct all that. The biggest improvement for a football team usually comes between their first and second game so we are looking forward to the challenge this week.”
Gordon Central is a work in progress and everyone needs to be patient because turning around a program takes time. Still, the Warriors showed a glimpse of what’s to come last week.
There will be some good times this Friday as well, but Southeast is a little further along in the rebuilding process than Gordon Central and they have some very tough, physical players that make a big impact. Warriors compete early, but Southeast Whitfield pulls away in the second half.
Southeast Whitfield wins, 31-19.
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