By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
There’s no telling how many times Jeremy Wilburn went through a mental checklist before his first game as head coach of Captain Shreve as his team prepared to play Ouachita Friday at Lee Hedges Stadium.
Inspiring speech in the locker room? Check. Decide on which end of the field to defend? Got it. Headsets working to talk to the assistants in the press box? All good.
The two teams were lined up and ready to kick off the 2024 season … except for one thing. There was a personnel problem. No, not on offense or defense or even special teams.
The chain crew was a man short.
“We are supposed to have three dads who work the chains,” Wilburn said. “I guess one of them forgot to tell me he couldn’t make it.”
After several what’s-going-on-here minutes, a replacement was found and sheepishly trotted over to the far sideline.
Solid move, because that guy got a first-hand look at quite a show as the Gators defeated the Lions 29-27 and a game that features penalties, multiple fake punts, penalties, long kickoff returns, penalties, three “swinging gate” extra points and one of the great plays in the history of football that didn’t even count.
And penalties. Twenty-five of them, in case you must know. (You shouldn’t.)
If there were ever any doubt as to how Wilburn was going to put his thumbprint on this team, that question was answered at the end of the first half.
After Ouachita had closed the Shreve lead to 22-19 with 33 seconds to go in the second quarter, it seemed only logical that the Gators would be happy to take that lead to the locker room.
Not so fast.
With some curious clock-keeping mixed in, the Gators got the ball at their 35 – they almost forgot to pick up the kickoff as the Lions closed in – and quickly got an 11-yard pass from Brodie Savage to tight end Walker Bolden. The clock had mysteriously kept running after the kickoff, so after an incomplete pass, 10 seconds magically re-appeared on the scoreboard.
But there was no confusing what happened next. With time winding down in the first half – or maybe it wasn’t – Savage found D.J. Weldon streaking down the sideline after somehow being left alone by the Ouachita defensive backfield. Savage’s long pass was caught by Weldon perfectly in stride and he trotted into the end zone for a 64-yard score to make it 29-19.
“I looked at D.J. and nodded at him and I knew he was going to be downfield,” Savage said. “It was a beautiful feeling.”
A lot of coaches – particularly those in their first game – wouldn’t have taken that chance.
“I told the team a long time ago that they were going to take on my personality,” Wilburn said. “We aren’t going to flinch. We are going to have our foot on the pedal at all times. If it’s there, we are going for it.”
Strangely enough, it was the last points the Gators would score – emphasis on the word “strange.”
Because that’s the only way to describe what happened in the fourth quarter. With 7:17 to play, Shreve took over at its own 37 after a punt. The Gators ran a play in which it looked like a handoff to Weldon, who got absolutely crushed on the play in the backfield by a Lions defender who read it all the way.
Only one problem: Savage never handed it off to Weldon.
While the crowd was reacting to the de-cleating hit in the backfield, Savage magically brought the ball out of nowhere and launched a pass 40 yards downfield. Shreve’s Car’darrian Devers made an incredible diving catch and the Gators appeared to be set up in position to ice the game.
Nobody in the stadium could figure out what they had just seen. Sadly, neither could the head referee.
Savage’s fake handoff had worked so well that an “inadvertent whistle” was blown when Weldon was tackled, nullifying the long pass and all-world catch.
“My play action fakes are my bread-and-butter,” Savage said. “I was bummed because that was a big play, but we came back from it.”
Savage was 10 of 16 for 179 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to his long touchdown catch, Weldon also returned Shreve’s first kickoff of the season for an 88-yard score.
Jamarcea Plater rushed 18 times for 175 yards and his 45-yard run on the final drive gave Shreve a chance to line up in victory formation to end the game.
All that was left was post-game water bucket dunking for Wilburn afterward.
“It feels awesome,” Wilburn said. “It’s been a long week and six or seven months to prepare for this. I knew we were going to have adversity tonight and our kids responded.”
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
O – Senaca Battle 33 pass from Montrell Connor (run failed)
CS – D.J. Weldon 88 kickoff return (J.D. Hester run)
Second quarter
CS – Kaleb Law 10 pass from Savage (pass incomplete)
O – Connor 16 run (run failed)
CS – Jamarcea Plater 3 run (Hester run)
O – Connor 1 run (Miguel Mondragon kick)
CS – Weldon 64 pass from Savage (Zane Wyss kick)
Third Quarter
O – Safety
O – Connor 4 run (pass failed)
RUSHING
Ouachita: CJ Spurs 14-89, Cam Williams 13-69, Connor 13-69 Dylan Berryman 1-23, Wyndall Clark 3-14. Shreve: Plater 18-175, Law 2-11, Savage 3-minus-4, Waldon 1-minus-9.
PASSING
Ouachita: Connor 15-8-0-121-1. Shreve: Savage 16-10-1-179-2 TD
RECEIVING
Ouachita: Clark 4-30, Battle 1-67, Nick Nelson 1-16, Spurs 1-5, Jordan Brown 1-3. Shreve: Law 4-67, Waldon 2-74, Walter Bolton 2-35, Plater 1-7, Car’Darrian Devers 1-minus-1.