By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES — Captain Shreve running back Gabe Lockett apologized for his performance Thursday night in a 40-27 District 1-5A win at Natchitoches Central.
He did lose a fumble in the first half. And said it took too long for him to see some holes in the Chiefs’ defense.
“I was off tonight,” he said. “The holes were there, and I took a little longer to hit ‘em. Once I really started to see it, and started to get going, it was there. But it started real slow for me today.
“Not every game is not going to be the most perfect game, but we still squeezed out four, so I’m happy.”
Four, as in his touchdown runs of 1, 72, 1 and 28 yards. Those were part of a career-high 228 rushing yards on 29 carries. That wasn’t all – he tossed a 6-yard halfback pass to Rickeynan Holden on fourth-and-goal for another TD that started Shreve’s push away from a tenuous 26-20 lead as the fourth quarter began.
Lockett’s last touchdown, the 28-yarder, pushed the Gators up 40-20 with 2:33 left.
It was his third 200-yard output in the last four weeks, as he rose two spots to fifth on the Gators’ career rushing list (exactly 2,100 yards) and up to second (206 points) on the career scoring rankings – no surprise to NCHS coach Brad Laird.
“Gabe, we’ve seen him for three years now. I had a chance to meet him Monday night out of uniform (at the Shreve-NCHS freshman and junior varsity games in Shreveport), and as good as he is in uniform on game nights, he’s just that good as a young man representing his school and family,” said Laird. “And he’s pretty dang good with the ball in his hands.”
The Chiefs (0-7, 0-3) weren’t an easy out. The teams swapped TDs four straight times until the Gators’ defense sacked NCHS sophomore Kobe Jones midway through the fourth period and forced a three-and-out. Lockett dashed through the NCHS interior three minutes later on his clinching 28-yard score.
“I saw the hole and said, ‘you know what? I’m gonna make them tackle me.’ So I did, and I ran them over, and I got the touchdown,” he said.
In a recurring theme, the Gators (4-3 overall, 2-2 in district) again stumbled out of the gate. Last week they trailed 34-13 at halftime before erupting to post a 61-48 win over Parkway. They were on the brink in Week 3, down 21-7 early after halftime and reeling at Northwood, then flipped the script and scored on five straight series, plus a pick six, in a 49-28 road triumph.
They never trailed at Turpin Stadium, but were up only 7-0 nearing the middle of the third quarter against winless but scrappy Natchitoches Central.
“We gotta figure out how to start better,” said Lockett. “You get farther in the playoffs, and you dig a deep hole against a Catholic, a (Edna) Karr, you’re not gonna be able to come back.”
But when Shreve gets going, watch out. The Gators scored on (sound familiar?) five straight possessions during a 17-minute span beginning at the 7:32 mark in the third quarter, relying on Lockett, sophomore quarterback Maddox Parrot and crew and a suddenly dominant offensive line.
“We wore them down a bit and we were able to run the football,” said Gators coach Jeremy Wilburn. “(Earlier) we had two turnovers down in the red zone, made some mistakes, failed to execute. We’re young and inexperienced in some spots, so every rep is getting us better.
“That’s been the tune. We’ve responded in the third and fourth quarters when we’ve had good games. If we can continue that and put a first half with it, we’ll be alright.”
Shreve hosts Huntington next Friday in its penultimate district outing. NCHS heads to Benton.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com