STATE CHAMPS: Gretna wins crown again

SALEM — This time, Gretna didn’t need any last-minute heroics.

The Hawks scored two touchdowns in the first 10 minutes and rolled to a 35-20 victory over Floyd County on Saturday at Salem Stadium, capturing their second straight Group A Division 2 state football championship and their fourth in the last six seasons.

“It felt awesome, as a senior, winning one more with this team,” quarterback Jayme Barksdale said. “It’s been a long, long journey. We’ve had some ups and downs, but we fought through it as a team. Now we’re back here.”

Barksdale completed 10 of 21 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns and also rushed 25 times for 141 yards and a score. He finished the season with nearly 3,900 yards of total offense.

Saturday’s contest was closer than last year’s state title game, in which the Hawks routed Gate City 52-0, but was still never really in doubt after Gretna raced out to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter.

The Hawks (13-1) needed just over three minutes to take a lead they never surrendered, driving 77 yards on seven plays and scoring on a 12-yard run by Andre Dickerson.

Gretna made it 14-0 on Kwame Berger’s 2-yard run with 2:09 remaining in the first quarter.

After sophomore linebacker Delante Hubbard recovered a fumble early in the second period, the Hawks needed just one play to find the end zone again. Barksdale connected with Commillius Waller Waller on a 49-yard scoring strike with 8:49 remaining before halftime.

“I thought we could run the ball and throw the ball with what they were giving us,” said Gretna coach Chris Thurman. “Our quarterback has gotten better as the season’s gone along throwing the ball, and I’ve had a lot more confidence in him down the stretch. He produced.”

Meanwhile, the Hawks’ defense kept the Buffaloes (13-1) from generating any momentum. Floyd County managed just 102 yards of offense in the first half and didn’t cross midfield until the final play before the intermission.

The Buffaloes finally got on the scoreboard on their opening possession of the second half. Quarterback Luke Harris drove his team 85 yards in five plays, capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Griffith that pulled Floyd County within 21-7.

Less than three minutes later, though, Gretna regained command when Barksdale found Waller for an 18-yard scoring pass that pushed the Hawks’ advantage to 28-7.

Barksdale scampered into the end zone from six yards out at the 4:23 mark of the third quarter, making it 35-7.

Floyd County scored twice in the game’s final five minutes. Harris hit Griffith with a 3-yard pass and Christian Rodrigue with a 10-yard strike.

With the final seconds ticking off the clock, Barksdale took a knee and ran toward the Gretna sideline, jumping up and down several times and waving his arms in the air as his teammates poured onto the field to celebrate.

Gretna finished with 439 yards of total offense to 346 for Floyd County. The Hawks’ defense forced four sacks and two turnovers.

Thurman, who has been at the helm since 2005, said this year’s championship means more to him than last year’s. The 2008 squad had to overcome the loss of quarterback Nick Miller to a leg injury suffered in the preseason.

“It’s a lot more special to me,” said Thurman. “We felt like we should have won it in 2006. Last year was just finishing up what we didn’t finish up the year before. This year, coming in – we lost a lot of good players in ‘07. We weren’t as talented at the beginning, I didn’t think, but as the year wore on, kids learned their roles and went out and did their jobs. And here we are.”

Senior defensive lineman D.J. Stone, who helped make the game-saving tackle in last week’s semifinal victory over Essex, expects to be able to savor the Hawks’ accomplishment for many years to come.

“There aren’t too many people that can say they went through high school and won back-to-back championships,” Stone said. “It feels really good to be able to tell all the people after me, all the young ones and the rookies, ‘look what we did. You can do the same thing.’”

Harris, a senior, finished 24 of 39 for 265 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

“They’re a team of heart,” Floyd County coach Winfred Beale said of his squad. “That’s the way these kids have been. They’re fighters; they never panic and they’re full of grit.”