The South Gibson Star-Times serves the towns of Haubstadt, Owensville and Fort Branch.
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105 N. McCreary, Fort Branch • 812-615-5130 CAFÉ & BAKERY CONGRATS, TITANS! 704 E. Locust St., Fort Branch • 812-753-4471 www.RosemeyerAgency.com Congratulations to our Titans Champions Who never gave up. Who dreamed the dream and accomplished it! "A champion is simply someone who did not give up when they wanted to." — TOM LANDRY We are proud of you! South Gibson Star-Times Titans: 2021 3A State Champions Tuesday, November 30, 2021 C-9 63 24 - GIBSON SOUTHERN NEW ALBANY AUGUST 27, 2021 GAME 2 68 6 - GIBSON SOUTHERN WASHINGTON SEPT. 3, 2021 GAME 3 Titans steamroll New Albany Bulldogs By Andy Heuring SG Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Gibson Southern football just keeps rolling. The Titans steamroll- ed 5A New Albany 63-24 in a game that was never really in doubt after the Titans jumped out to a 28 -0 lead. New Albany, known for its talent- ed offense and sketchy defense, lived up to that description. "We knew that (New Albany's offensive potential) coming in. We thought we could have success, if we limited some of their big plays," said Titan Coach Nick Hart. Their defense was no match for a Brady Allen-led offense that scored touchdowns all nine times the start- ers got the ball. It wasn't just Allen's 18 of 22 passing for 246 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Sean De- Long ran all over the Bulldogs for 176 yards in just 12 carries for a 14-yard-per-carry average. DeLong also caught four passes for 70 yards. New Albany was barely slowing down the Titans. An example of just how effective the Titan offense was is the ratio of plays to first downs. In all, the Titans ran 41 offensive plays, 26 of those were for first downs and nine of them were for touchdowns. So there were only six plays all night that weren't a touchdown or a first down. Most coaches would be thrilled to have a quarter where they only had six plays that weren't scores or first downs. Hart said the Titans ran the ball more because it was successful and New Albany was "emptying out the box to try and take away some of our passing stuff." DeLong made them pay. It took only 4:12 for the Titans to jump out to a 14-0 lead as the Bull- dogs helped them with turnovers. The Titans took the open kick- off and marched 80 yards in just six plays, which included runs of 13 and 19 by DeLong mixed in with a 13-yard run by Allen, before Allen ran it into the endzone from 11 yards out just 1:55 into the game. New Albany gave it back to them four plays later when Ben Luttrell re- covered a fumble on the bounce. He zigged and zagged through numer- ous defenders before going down at the two. A fter an incomplete pass, DeLong took it into the endzone and the Ti- tans led 14-0. An onside kick by the Titans com- pletely caught New Albany off guard and Rory Heltsley, known for his re- ceiving, ran under a bouncing kick and caught it in stride. He was taken down at the 49 -yard line. A 10 -yard run by DeLong, followed by a 20 -yard pass to Heltsley and a 15 -yard pass to DeLong ended with a four-yard touchdown pass to Heltsley for a 21- 0 lead with 6:35 still left in the first quarter. New Albany had their moments when their speed flashed, showing how dangerous they could be. The Bulldogs, on the sturdy back of Keyondre Winford, moved the ball into Titan territory on a 17-yard run by Winford. Then on fourth and 11, at the 28 -yard line, Derell Simmons threw a pass to DeJon Winburn. It went through his hands and popped up as he was hit by a Titan defender. Winburn was able to spin and run un- der the ball at the nine. The Titan defense stepped up in the redzone. Ethan Ziliak tackled Winford for no gain on first down. Simmons, on second down, ran to the five and fumbled out of bounds at the four. On third down, Logan Maurer stopped Simmons at the three and on fourth down, Simmons hit Winburn with a screen that was bulldozed by the Titan defense, for a four-yard loss. Gibson Southern took over on downs and covered the 93 yards in less than three minutes. The drive included passes of 12, 8 and 25, be- fore Allen hit Hurley in the endzone for 17-yard score and a 28 -0 lead with 11:23 left in the second quarter. New Albany got on the board with a 64-yard, 10 -play drive that includ- ed five runs and five passes. Winford took it in from the four. He ran for 92 yards on 17 carries, while Simmons passed for 274 yards, completing 15 of 23 passes and two touchdowns, but also had two interceptions. The Titans immediately respond- ed as Allen hit DeLong for 26 yards, Hurley for 11, Heltsley for 10, De- Long six and, finally, Heltsley for a 14-yard touchdown and a 35 -6 lead. New Albany's speed burned the Titans on their next series. A fter a holding penalty on the first play, New Albany faced first and 26 from their own 11. But a quick sideline pass to Winburn looked like it would be a loss as two Titan defenders closed in on him, but Winford juked inside, then went outside as the defenders bumped into each other. Eighty-nine yards later, Winford had New Alba- ny's second touchdown. Gibson Southern bounced right back. Michael Herron returned the Bull- dog kickoff to the Bulldog 27-yard line. A fter an incomplete pass on first down, DeLong broke free for a 27-yard touchdown run and a 42- 12 lead. New Albany scored again with just 1:40 left on the clock as Simmons hit his other fleet-footed receiver Ja'ray- lan Johnson for a 48 -yard touchdown. A failed two-point conversion made it 42-18. Johnson and Winburn both topped 100 yards receiving as Johnson caught six passes for 128 yards and Winburn caught six passes for 125 yards. Gibson Southern took over with just 1:40 left to cover 60 yards. Even with a false start penalty, the Titans covered the distance easily as Allen hit DeLong for 32 yards and then McKee for a 33 -yard score, making it 49 -18 with 54 seconds left. Gibson Southern defense forced a three and out to start the second half. Allen went back to work. A holding penalty on first down had them fac- ing first and 18. It didn't matter. Allen ran for nine, then hit McK- ee for seven yards to the New Albany 39 -yard line, where they faced fourth and two. Allen then hit McKee for a 20 -yard gain and DeLong ran for 11 and eight yards to put the Titans up 56 -18. A Brayden Malone interception set the Titans up for their last score, giv- ing them the ball at the New Alba- ny 34-yard line. On the first play, De- Long ripped off a 34-yard jaunt to the endzone for a 63-18 lead with 1:30 left in the third quarter. The Titan start- ers went to the sideline and the clock was running. New Albany drove the ball 65 -yards in seven plays against the reserve defense for the final score of 63-24. The win was the second by the Ti- tans against much larger schools. They opened the season with 43-20 win over 6A Columbus North. Titan linebacker Levi Dickerson levels New Albany quarter- back Derell Simmons, who threw for 274 yards and ran for 46 yard against the Titans. Titans explode to 68-6 win vs. Washington By Andy Heuring Star-Times Sports sports@sgstartimes.com Gibson Southern exploded for 42 points in the first quarter and cruised to a 68 -6 win over an over- matched Washington team. Braden Malone ended any suspense in the game when he took the opening kick- off on the left side, ran toward the middle, caught a seam, cut to the left sideline and motored into the end zone for a 6 -0 lead just 13 sec- onds into the game. He did it with an ease that foretold of the impend- ing 60 -plus point win. Kicker Chris Spear was eight-of- eight on extra points before the re- serves came in. Titan Coach Nick Hart said the main goal for this week was, "That we come and play the way we are sup- posed to. I think a lot of times when a game starts to get away, kids can be- come a little lackadaisical. We want- ed to play a clean game and control what we can control. I thought we did a pretty good job of that." Gibson Southern would score five more times in the first quarter. A fter a three-and-out the Titans took over at the 38 -yard line. Senior quarterback Brady Allen stepped on the field with a 7-0 score before he took the first snap. He quickly carved up the Hatchet defense. His first pass was a 26 -yarder for Sean DeLong, fol- lowed by three passes to Rory Helt- sley for 19, 11 and finally a 10 -yard touchdown, just 4:19 into the game. The defense got into the scoring column on the next series. Gibson Southern forced Washington to punt after three plays for net zero yards. The snap to Washington's punter went over his head and as he scram- bled to pick it up it rolled into the end zone and three Titans pounced on him and the ball for a touchdown. With 6:09 still left in the first quar- ter all three phases of the Titan team, kicking, offense and defense had scored. "I think so far our special teams have been really good, whether in coverage or on returns. We have do- ne a really good job," said Hart. Gibson Southern continued to play downhill. The Titan defense forced another three-and-out as Logan Maurer and Levi Dickerson stuffed Washington tailback Jayce Perkins for one yard before Tye Whitledge and Adrean Lukeman stopped Cameron Cook after one yard. Gibson took over at the Washington 43 yard line. Allen hit Kaden Hurless for 16 yards, DeLong ran for 13 and Allen found Malone in the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown and a 28 -0 lead with 3:38 left in the first quarter. Drew Foster picked off Washing- ton quarterback Conner Wooley's pass on the first play of the next se- ries. It gave the Titans the ball on their own 41. Gibson Southern cov- ered the 59 yards in one play as Al- len hit Hurless with a mid-range pass and Hurless did the rest for a touch- down, making it 35 -0. On the night, Allen was the es- sence of efficiency completing 13 of 14 passes for 210 yards and four touchdowns. "He (Allen) continues to play at a very high level. Really, offensively we executed very well," said Allen. Washington continued to be their own worst enemy. On the posses- sion after the interception, a net three yard punt from their own six yard line gave the Titans the ball at the nine. DeLong took it to the one yard line and then into the end zone on the second play of the series for a 42-0 lead with 54 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Another three and out gave the Ti- tans the ball at their own 16. It took only three plays to travel the 84 yards. On first down Delong ran for 28 yards. Allen then hit Heltsley for 36 yards and Andrean Lukeman ran through several would-be tacklers for a 23-yard touchdown. It gave the Titans a 49 -0 lead at the 10 :13 mark of the second quarter. Washington finally got their initial first down on their sixth possession. It came on a 32-yard pass from Wool- ey to Nate Aldrich that got Washing- ton to Gibson Southern's 29 -yard line. They would get no closer on the drive. Three consecutive loss- es left Washington facing fourth and 25 from 43 yard line. Wooley found Logan Hill for a 21 yard gain, but it wasn't enough and Washington turned the ball over on downs. Gibson Southern went 79 yards in 10 plays that included a holding pen- alty which negated a big gain. Allen hit Ben Luttrell for a seven yard gain and Isaac O'Neal for another 12 be- fore Lukeman rumbled 14 yards. On first down Allen's only incomplete pass didn't slow down the Titan drive. Lukeman picked up 20 yards for a first down at the 36. A holding penalty couldn't even slow the Titan offense. Allen hit Hur- less for an 15 yard gain and another first down. Allen then scrambled for 15 before finding Cole McKee open in the end zone for a nine-yard score and a 56 -0 lead just before the half. The reserves got in on the fun in the second half. Washington started the half by moving the ball to the Ti- tan 40 yard line, but on second-and- eight Titan Gabe Bryant picked off Wolley, giving Gibson Southern the ball at the Washington 35 -yard line. Devan Roberts made the most of his opportunities. On his first carry he broke off a 35 -yard touchdown at the 6:15 mark with a running clock. It gave the Titans a 62-0 lead. Roberts finished as the Titans' leading rusher with 66 yards on four carries. Washington got on the board with 40 seconds left in the third quarter as Rylan Memering went 27 yards for a score ,making it 62-6. Titan Michael Herron capped a 60 -yard drive with a 39 -yard run with 8:40 left in the game to give the Ti- tans 68 -6 win over Washington. "I think late in the second quarter we blew a couple of coverages. Next week (against South Warren) those will be walk-in touchdowns. We had a little lack of focus, really my only complaint about Friday night. Our de- fense was pretty good for the most part," said Hart. "I just thought as a team we did a great job. Where I was extremely pleased throughout the week, there was concern you have won two big ballgames and are going to play a team everyone is telling you should beat. That can lead to a bad week of practice. But we had a really good week of practice. I'm proud of how they handled that," said Hart. Titan defensive back Drew Foster pulls down an inter- ception early in the Titans' 68-6 win over Washington. See Games 4-15 in Section D.