Glen Rose football soundly defeated by Gilmer in Class 4A Division II State Semifinal
The wait for the first trip to an UIL football championship game will continue for Glen Rose.
The Bulldogs nine-game winning streak came to an end in a 79-42 loss to Gilmer at Children Health’s Stadium in a Class 4A Division II semifinal game.
Glen Rose finished the year with a 10-5 mark — a remarkable turnaround from a 1-4 start through the end of September.
Last year, the Tigers reached the semifinal for the first time but lost to Carthage. However, a week ago Gilmer upset Carthage 47-44 to prevent a rematch.
“I’m super proud of that group, you know they fought through adversity all year and proved people wrong,” Glen Rose football head coach Cliff Watkins said. “It is awesome to be back in the semifinals again but obviously it didn’t turn out the way we wanted; Gilmer is an unbelievable team and they were just better.”
Gilmer will play in a title game for the ninth time in program history and faces Bellville in the Class 4A D2 State Championship at 3 p.m. CT on Friday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.
Gilmer had one of its best offensive games of the year — The team was 3-points off the season high and tallied 59 or more for the sixth time this season. In fact, the Buckeyes (12-3) had their second-best playoff game ever, in terms of points. A missed point-after attempt kept Gilmer from tying the 2014 squad’s 80-14 win over Waco Connally.
The Tigers held a lead for only 16 seconds in the contest and never could recover from a barrage of early points by the Buckeyes.
After falling behind 6-0 early — a PAT missed — Glen Rose drove down and scored on its second possession. Facing a 4th-and-2 from the 12-yard line, tight end Camden Raymond went back to quarterback and took the snap. He ran through the middle of the line, broke a tackle and scored with 5:54 to go. The extra point by Jorge Mendoza gave Glen Rose the lead.
Geramiah Noble took the kickoff back 80 yards and 16 seconds later the lead changed hands. Aron Bell ran in the conversion and gave Gilmer the lead for good.
That was part of a 36-0 surge for the Buckeyes that essentially ended the game by halftime.
Brendan Webb made it 21-7 after the first quarter following a 10-yard run. Will Henderson had a 75-yard rushing score 30 seconds into the second quarter. An interception by Gilmer’s Mykah Easley set up a 1-yard touchdown run by Henderson.
Then, things got a little bit worse for Glen Rose. Down 35-7, an attempted handoff on a kickoff return led to a fumble and Gilmer’s Kolby Webb recovered at the 22.
One play later, Cadon Tennison hit Brendan Webb for a touchdown — two touchdowns in 10 seconds.
“We knew they were so explosive,” Watkins said of Gilmer’s offense. “We had to weather the storm and we weren’t able to do that. We turned it over too early and then it just got away from us.”
Down 35 points, the Tigers scored twice to pull within 21 points later in the second quarter.
Canyon Evans threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Josiah Groeneweg and Raymond added a second touchdown run with 2:50 left in the first half.
The Tigers never pulled closer than 42-21 after that. Gilmer scored the next 24 points and built a 66-21 advantage with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.
Glen Rose tacked on a trio of second-half touchdowns.
Evans threw a 7-yard score to Adrian Sanchez, a 3-yard pass to Raymond — set up by a blocked punt by Gage Edgar — and a 6-yard touchdown to Raymond.
Henderson, who had 271 yards on 18 carries, made a 52-yard touchdown run with 5:04 to play for Gilmer.
The Buckeyes hauled in two interceptions in the final 3 minutes, including a second by Easley.
“We know they throw the ball well and the quarterback (Evans) is extremely accurate,” Gilmer coach Alan Metzel said. “They have guys who catch it too. So, that’s why we had to keep on scoring. We knew they could come back. Hats off to Glen Rose. Coach Watkins does a great job. They graduated a huge group last year and here they are with all kinds of young guys battling around. I couldn’t be more impressed with Coach Watkins and the group he has.”