As Gaither junior Shug Oyegunle stood waiting to return a kick following East Bay’s 16 unanswered, fourth-quarter points, he said his only thought was to a week of practice where the Cowboys' mantra was "must win."
Trailing by six, Oyegunle returned the kickoff 72 yards. The return set up a 20-yard touchdown pass from Alex McGough to Carlo Perello, giving Gaither the victory.
"All that was on my mind was taking it back — getting this win," Oyegunle said. "All week we thought about what we would do if we lost this game and that just wasn't an option. This was a must-win."
Oyegunle and Perello connected on five passes on the first-half scoring drive, capped by a 5-yard touchdown.
The Cowboys stretched their lead to 10 in the third quarter on a 30-yard field goal by Dalton Gilson.
However, the story for Gaither was the stellar play of its defense. Senior linebacker Josh Scarberry had five sacks and added four tackles for a loss. Tyler McCollum had a blocked field goal, a 64-yard punt return and an interception in the game.
|
Gaither |
0 |
7 |
3 |
7 |
––––– |
17 |
|
East Bay |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16 |
––––– |
1 |
G — Perello 5 pass from Oyegunle (Gilson kick)
G — FG Gilson 30
E — Fullwood 1 run (Martinez kick)
E — Fullwood 1 run (kick failed)
E — FG Martinez 27
G — Perello 20 pass from McGough (Gilson kick)
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