Gibbs coach Brad Turner said the Eagles getting off to their first 7-0 start in school history was only “cool.”
It’s the underlying positives leading to that record Turner and his team are more excited about with two more giant Region 2-4A games left to go.
Those positives were on display Friday as the visiting Eagles pulled away in the second half to defeat Carter 42-28 and reach the new milestone.
“The record is cool and all, but beating Carter, big region game, winning the next game, that’s our goal. Whatever the record is, it is. If you’re playing the last game of the year that’s where you want to be.”
Gibbs and Carter were tied at 14 at halftime, but the Eagles rolled off 21 unanswered points in the second half.
Receiver DaJuan Harris scored on a 21-yard sweep to put Gibbs ahead 21-14 with 7:01 remaining in the third quarter.
Quarterback Warren Axton ran it in from five yards out to give the Eagles a 28-14 lead with 3:29 left in the third.
Axton then found Maddox Brackfield on a 12-yard play-action pass to extend the advantage to 35-14 in the early stages of the fourth.
“We came out a little flat. We’ve been doing that a couple of times. Once we got going we were hard to stop; we’re always like that,” Axton said.
“I just feel like with this team, with the chemistry and bonding we have, whenever we get going we’re really hard to knock off, and that was what was shown to put up as many points as we did in the third and fourth quarters.”
Axton appears to be fitting like a glove in Gibbs’ up-tempo offense. The Eagles do not typically throw the ball much, but certainly have the capability when they need to with Axton.
Axton joined the team midway through last season from Enterprise, Alabama, and said he loves playing in the Gibbs offense.
“It’s awesome. We’ve got a bunch of athletes and a great O-line. Everything flows. Triple option, the spread – to run out of the spread or pass out of the spread – we’re a really hard offense to stop. Coach (Tyler) Kitts, he’s a great offensive coordinator and our offense is lethal.”
On Friday, Axton went 8-of-10 passing for 134 yards, three touchdowns and zero interceptions. The senior completed first-half touchdown passes for 43 yards to Levi Allison and 18 yards to Reid Daniel.
The one to Daniel was pivotal as it came with 26 seconds left to go in the half, and gave the Eagles (7-0, 3-0) momentum before the break. Two plays earlier, Axton took a hard hit close to the head on a run. He only missed one play and threw the touchdown on his first play back in.
“He’s just a competitor,” Turner said about Axton.
“One of the things with Warren, we’ve got to let him do his thing a little bit and try to cater to that.
“(He) got banged up a little bit on one of these hits, didn’t know if he was going to come back in, next play comes back in and throws a touchdown. He’s one of those, it’s almost like a boxer, the more he gets hit, the better he plays, and he did a great job.”
Another key to Gibbs’ success is the number of ball carriers opposing defenses have to try and gameplan for. The Eagles have five players with more than 175 yards rushing this season; three with five or more rushing touchdowns, and seven players with more than one rushing touchdown.
Brady Hughes could be described as the Eagles’ bellcow back. The senior showed that Friday with 120 yards on 17 carries and a touchdown. But Allison also had 69 yards rushing, Harris 65 and Marquese Sharp 51.
“I think that’s what gives us an advantage is keeping fresh legs,” Turner said.
“Our running backs coach Brad Capps does a great job. And our guys buy into it. Obviously they want to touch it every time, but they buy into it. They go hard, we give them a break, we do a great job of getting different guys the ball.”
Joseph Armenta had a rushing and receiving touchdown for the Hornets (3-5, 1-2), and receiver Gabriel Dennis took a direct snap 69 yards for a score to give Carter a 14-7 lead in the second quarter.
But the Hornets lost three fumbles and went 1 of 5 on fourth-down conversions, ultimately costing them a chance at ending Gibbs’ undefeated season.
Turner said he feels like practicing fast has led to his team improving its timing and tempo throughout the season. And that will be put to the test in the coming weeks.
“We’ve got Morristown East, and then we’ve got two big region games with Anderson County and Fulton, and that’s two of the best teams in the region. Any time you play those guys you’ve got to bring your best.”
Article written by Matthew Lutey/ 5Star Preps
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