By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Captain Shreve scored 61 points last week in a comeback win over Parkway. Thursday night at Turpin Stadium, the explosive Gators were nursing a slender 7-0 edge over Natchitoches Central.
Then the District 1-5A game went to fast forward mode.
The teams swapped TDs four straight times in a wild stretch starting near the middle of the third quarter and lasting for the next 12 minutes.
Captain Shreve’s defense and Gators’ senior running back Gabe Lockett swung the outcome the visitors’ way in what wound up a 40-27 NCHS loss.
A nine-yard sack of Chiefs’ quarterback Kobe Jones resulted in a three-and-out that gave the Gators the ball, up 33-20 with 5:22 remaining.
Shreve kept running downfield, with Lockett doing most of the damage.
Lockett provided 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. The Chiefs responded again, driving rapidly and cashing in on a 13-yard Jones scramble and Asmden Pasch PAT to get within two scores with under a minute left, but couldn’t convert an onside kick and the visitors ran out the final seconds.
It was Lockett’s 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.
“We played hard. We battled to the end,” said Laird, “but you want them to feel that victory at the end, and we weren’t able to do it. Give credit to Captain Shreve.”
Along with curtailing Captain Shreve’s offense in the first two-and-a-half quarters, NCHS moved the ball itself in the frantic second-half stretch. The Chiefs got on the board on Jace Prelow’s 10-yard TD from Jones with 4:09 left in the third quarter (down 14-6), then answered the visitors’ next score with a David Newton 37-yard run and Pasch extra point with 1:31 showing to get within 20-13.
Lockett’s fourth-down TD toss came next on the first play of the fourth period, but NCHS wasted no time getting back within a score when Jones sneaked in from the 1 just over a minute later to close within 26-20.
But Lockett’s next two scoring runs sandwiched the three-and-out by NCHS (0-7, 0-3) down the stretch. It was the third time this season Shreve (4-3, 2-2) has scored on at least five straight possessions.
“We wore them down a bit and we were able to run the football,” said Gators coach Jeremy Wilburn, a former NSU player and graduate assistant coach.
“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.”
Laird had no gripes with his injury-riddled, young team’s effort.
“They’re showing improvement. They’re battling. They’re going to keep doing that,” he said. “You saw a team that prepared itself, and the guys who were healthy and out here playing competed their butts off.
“We’re going to win. We’re going to turn that corner. Our guys are giving great effort and doing good things, but need to do it consistently through four quarters.”
NCHS heads to Benton next Friday.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com