By Kenton Brooks
GORE – As Gore’s defensive coordinator, Jeremy Jackson takes a lot of pride in that side of the ball — and even more so after Thursday night.
The Pirates stopped the Savanna Bulldogs twice inside Gore’s 10-yard line in the 14-6 win in District A-6 action on Senior Night at K.G. Horn Stadium.
“We stepped up,” Jackson said. “We had four guys out with injuries. We had five freshmen starting and they played their rear ends off. It was amazing to watch them play football. With those two defensive stands inside the 10, they found a way to make plays and bail us out.”
With the win, Gore, now 8-2 overall and finishing 7-2 in district, advances to next week’s playoffs against A-5 runner-up Stratford. Meanwhile, Savanna (7-3, 6-3) gets No. 4-ranked and undefeated Stroud plays in the first round of the postseason.
The biggest play of the game came when 6-foot-5 Ethan James hit Savanna quarterback Landon Walker and forced him to fumble. Jacob Johnson recovered for the Pirates.
Logan Andrews, starting at quarterback and linebacker, made some defensive plays of his own. He also ran for a game-high 125 yards on 29 carries and completed 7 of 17 passes for 57 yards.
“This win is great,” Andrews said. “We go play Stratford and we have a better chance at beating them than Stroud.”
Gore increased its lead to 14-0 with 11:47 left in the game on James Berry’s 2-yard run.
Savanna got its lone touchdown on a 11-yard pass to running back Reedis James from quarterback Taylor Barr with 4:59 left in the game. Barr completed 7 of 18 passes for 73 yards.
Thanks to Andrews, Gore clung to a 7-0 halftime lead. Not only did he throw the touchdown pass, but he made key defensive stops for the Pirates.
Andrews’ biggest defensive play of the first half came with 4:27 left when he tackled James on second down for an eight-yard loss that pushed the ball back to the Gore 11 yard line.
Savanna gained four yards on the next play, but the drive stalled out and Gore got the ball back with 1:59 left. The Pirates ran out the clock to hold the seven-point lead at half.
Andrews tossed a 12-yard touchdown pass to Lane with 7:28 left in the first quarter. Marcus Ivarsson added the extra point.
Andrews had 54 yards rushing and 39 yards passing in the first half.
Landon Walker, the Savanna quarterback, had 36 yards passing in the first half, while Zac Doyle had 14 yards rushing for the Bulldogs.
In other Thursday games:
Commerce 62,
Hulbert 0
COMMERCE — Ricky Watkins scored three TDs on runs of 52, 1 and 2 yards and Brywon Sullivan had three of his own on runs of 2, 45 and 22 yards as the hosts routed Hulbert (1-9, 1-8 District A-8).
It was 48-0 at halftime. Commerce ends the regular season at 8-2, 7-2 in district.
Mark Squires had 15 tackles for the Riders.
