Gretna slips by Nelson County

Published: October 3, 2008

LOVINGSTON — Gretna had not faced a true challenge so far in the young season and with Nelson County coming off a 12-point loss to Altavista, things were supposed to continue to roll.

“Before you think about winning the region or winning anything else, you got to win your district,” Gretna coach Chris Thurman said.

Gretna almost lost its first conference game since 2006, withstanding 26 unanswered points from Nelson County in the final eight and a half minutes to win 41-38 Friday night.

The Hawks (5-0, 1-0 Dogwood) had not given up more than 115 yards in their past three games, but gave up 434 yards to Nelson County quarterback Mark Wells, who passed for 218 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 216 yards and three touchdowns.

“We just kept blocking and never giving up — nothing really special,” Nelson’s senior quarterback said.

Gretna definitely had to withstand Nelson County’s (2-4, 0-1 Dogwood) onslaught in the fourth quarter after Gretna’s Andre Dickerson slipped past defenders and got some great blocking down the right side on a 67-yard punt return that made it 41-12 with a little under nine minutes left.

After that touchdown, Gretna had two three-and-outs and lost a fumble, giving Nelson County good field position almost every drive in the second half.

“It just gives us something to look forward to, we got stuff to work on like coach said,” Dickerson said.

Wells made the Hawks pay, running for all three of his touchdowns on consecutive drives and connecting with his favorite target, Jordan Wooten, on a 4-yard pass to round out the scoring.

“We got some great catches. (Wells) had a whale of a night and his receivers helped him out,” Nelson County coach Tim Crawford said.

Whether it was blocking or bringing in some wild passes, the Governors’ receivers helped out Wells, especially with the pressure that the Hawks’ front seven was bringing on every play.

Gretna was able to get to Wells, recording two early sacks and forcing the senior quarterback into throwing a second-quarter interception to defensive back Ted Jennings.

Offensively, the Hawks moved the ball well in the third quarter after only being up 14-6 at the half. The first two drives of the second half netted touchdowns, rushing touchdowns from Barksdale and Kwame Berger. The two drives saw Gretna rack up 163 yards of offense and seemed to build momentum on its side.

But Barksdale never got into a rhythm in the passing attack, completing just 8-of-22 passes and missing some wide-open targets.

“I was holding on to the ball too long and wasn’t getting it to the receivers when they were in stride,” Barksdale said. “They came out and played and we got a little big-headed in ourselves and we paid for it.”

Gretna did not pay for it with a loss but it came awfully close. The Hawks still managed to rack up 529 yards of offense and score enough to win the Dogwood opener.

“I thought we hung in there. I mean, we hung in there enough to win,” Thurman said. “Anytime you come to Nelson County, you can expect they are going to play hard and are going to get after it.”