Gretna holds off Gov comeback

By Laura Clark

Published: October 8, 2008

Gov coach Tim Crawford said Nelson’s 41-38 loss to top-ranked Gretna on Oct. 3 could be a turning point for his team, which is sitting at 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the Dogwood District.

Nelson was down 41-12 in the fourth quarter when Gretna put in its second-string defense. The Govs made it 41-24 with two quick touchdowns. Quarterback M.J. Wells ran in 45- and 12-yard touchdowns, and completed one pass to Jordan Wooten for the two-point conversion. Nelson was focusing on the point of attack and making blocks, Crawford said.

‘There were a lot of plays in the game that would have been the difference.’  — Coach Tim Crawford

“M.J. played a great game. Our receivers have come around,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of weapons. Teams are going to have to defend the whole field.”

Nelson scored four touchdowns in 10 minutes, swinging the momentum that the first-string Hawks couldn’t regain.

“With six minutes to go in the game, they had their boys back in. We dominated them the last six minutes of the game, and we had a chance to beat them,” Crawford said. “Coach Thurman had called the dogs off. If something crazy happens, like we score two quick touchdowns, they’ve got to reset their minds and go back out there.”

Crawford had challenged his players as the underdogs of the matchup, and they played hungry. He said outside of three big touchdown plays, the Govs outplayed the Hawks.

The first play was a touchdown off a screen pass before halftime. Darien Jefferson caught a pass from Gretna quarterback Jayme Barksdale for a 56-yard touchdown. The second play was Barksdale’s 56-yard touchdown pass to Commilious Waller, and the third was Andre Dickerson’s 67-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Nelson had its chances for big plays, too, recovering a fumble with 1:16 left in the game. Wooten caught the 10-yard touchdown pass from Wells. Nelson tried to recover its fourth onside kick, but failed. Earlier in the game, Nelson was in the red zone three times and didn’t score.

“If we’re going to play with the big boys, we’ve got to take advantage of those chances,” Crawford said.

The offense had a breakthrough performance with Wells making the reads in Nelson’s spread formation. Sending receivers like Wooten, Aaron Kidd, Steven Washington and Rod Vest downfield helped the running game, too. Wells threw 35 passes and completed 16 for 218 yards. He also ran for 216. Running back Trey Barnett was sidelined early by an aggravated shoulder injury, but will return for the next game.

Gretna also put up big offensive numbers, 529-yards to Nelson’s 450 yards. As they have all year, Nelson is developing defensive backs. And Crawford said the basics of blocking and tackling are point of focus in the bye week ahead.

“Once again, it’s a loss. I’m proud of our kids. They hung in there to the last whistle,” he said. “We can’t have a close loss to Gretna be the highlight of our season.”

Crawford told the players after the game that they should now see how good they can be. The Govs had some good plays on defense and some great plays on offense, he said. Now they have to put together a whole game. Well, make that four whole games if they want a chance to make theplayoffs.

“We’ve got our hands full down the stretch,” Crawford said. “We have to win out.”

Nelson has a bye this Friday, then plays Chatham, William Campbell, Appomattox and Dan River to complete the regularseason.

“They’ve gotten a dose of playing well,” he said. “I’ve got all the confidence in the guys. They’re great to work with. It’s easily the best part of my day when I hit the field at 3:30.

“We may go on a run. We could definitely go on a run.”