Gretna annihilates Magna Vista

GRETNA — Gretna absolutely dominated Magna Vista 41-0 on Friday night as the Hawks celebrated at halftime by retiring the jersey number of former quarterback and current University of Virginia defensive back Vic Hall.

Magna Vista (0-5) couldn’t get going on either side of the ball — but Gretna (3-0) rolled. The Hawks accumulated 276 yards of offense, including 143 passing yards and five touchdowns from quarterback Jayme Barksdale, who passed for four scores.

“I just did what I did,” Barksdale said. “Frankly, their corners just couldn’t cover our receivers.”

Gretna wasted no time scoring on its opening possession. After a 55-yard return from Commilious Waller on the opening kickoff, Barksdale found Kevin Dale in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown on their first play from scrimmage.

Barksdale recorded his second passing touchdown with 9:18 left in the first half, connecting with Waller for a 31-yard scoring strike.

Barksdale was able to find the end zone three more times in the contest, including a 5-yard rushing touchdown with 1:40 remaining in the first half.
Gretna coach Chris Thurman is happy with Barksdale’s development at quarterback.

“I certainly am pleased,” Thurman said. “He threw well under pressure and ran the ball well. He didn’t give up too many turnovers. He did a great job.”
Barksdale, whose natural position is wide receiver, is beginning to feel comfortable under center.

“I feel all right,” Barksdale said. “It is a neat atmosphere. I just feel all right. Pretty much, I just tried to get the ball away before I got hit. I just saw the open man and did it. But I’d still rather go out to receiver.”

Thurman was also happy with the rest of his team’s performance.

“This was a good team effort,” Thurman said. “I’m really pleased with our defense. We played a shut out and they really stepped up. Our offense moved the ball well and I’m pleased with that.”

As far as offensive strategy, Thurman wants his team to be able to run as well as pass.

“We like to be balanced in total yardage,” Thurman said. We want to be close in both areas. We were probably close tonight.”

Magna Vista coach Joe Favero acknowledges the difficult task of defending Gretna.

“They have athletes,” Favero said. “They can spread teams out. They have guys that can beat guys, and that’s why they win.

“This was kind of the same for us,” Favero said. “We are up and down. We moved the ball fairly well in the first half, but they have so many defensive weapons it’s tough. We had some missed tackles that hurt.”

Favero saw his team have some success with the ground game.

“That’s kind of what we do,” Favero said. “We run the ball. I don’t know how many sacks they had, but it was a bunch. That hurt us.”

Thurman still has some things he wants the Hawks to improve on heading into the rest of the season.

“We still have some stuff to clean up,” Thurman said. “Some of our technique on defense and special teams wasn’t the best, but we can go to the film and fix that.

“Any time we’re just fine tuning, we’re doing all right,” Thurman said.