LSG » Coaching » The Legend of Poppy Brown began Thursday

The Legend of Poppy Brown began Thursday

TYLER - The Gilmer Buckeyes rolled into town as the #5 ranked team in Class 4A DII to take on the #4 ranked team in Class 4A Texarkana Liberty-Eylau.  What we talked away with was not just that neither team played much defense, but that both can score against good teams.

Gilmer scoring much at all against a highly-touted Liberty-Eylau defense is probably the biggest surprise.  Aaron "Poppy" Brown was the icing on this surprise party as in his first varsity start for Gilmer, he broke the Buckeyes' single game passing yardage record held by GJ. Kinne (456 in 2006) with 578 yards through the air and 6 touchdowns.  In addition, he scored one on the ground as well.

After falling behind early Gilmer played keep ahead and just tried to stay a touchdown or 2 ahead of the Leopards throughout the whole second half, 61-55.

Gilmer scored on its first drive of the season an it was all Poppy as he completed 5 straight passes capped off by one run, an 18 yard up the gut, 7-0.  This was a game of short scoring drives.

Then the rushing attack of the Leopards started churning.  Kameron Levingston, DeAndre Hoof, and Kevin Florence ran for touchdowns in respective order with the last Steven Goben PAT failing, 20-7.  Levingston had 2 Touchdowns on the night while Florence added 3.

Poppy hit running back Kelton Collier out of the backfield for a 74 yard strike next then found Red Jones and Des Jones for 2 more scores to push the Buckeyes ahead going into the half, 28-20.

2-Yard Touchdown Pass to Desmond Jones

15-Yard Touchdown Pass to LaMarcus Morton

74-Yard Touchdown Pass to LaMarcus Morton

If Poppy Brown had an otherworldly performance his wide receiver and birthday boy on the day LaMarcus Morton was scintillating catching 10 passes for 259 yards and 3 touchdowns of his own.

If you had any reason to doubt Gilmer... this game should put that to rest.

by Glenn McCarthy

Interview with Gilmer Head Coach, Matt Turner

Scoring Summary

GILMER 61, LIBERTY-EYLAU 55

Team1Q2Q3Q4QFINAL
Liberty-Eylau146152055
Gilmer721201361

First Quarter
GLM-Aaron Brown 18 run (Adan Ibarra kick), 10:13.
LE-Kameron Levingston 1 run (Steven Goben kick), 4:06.
LE-DeAndre Hoof 10 run (Goben kick), 1:24.

Second Quarter
LE-Kevin Florence 1 run (kick failed), 4:02.
GLM-Kelton Collier 74 pass from Brown (kick failed), 3:16.
GLM-Red Jones 25 pass from Brown (Ibarra kick), 1:34.
GLM-Dez Jones 2 pass from Brown (Rashaad Ward run), 0:04.

Third Quarter
LE-Levingston 11 run (Decorian Phillips pass to Isaiah Cross), 11:01.
GLM-LaMarcus Morton 74 pass from Brown (Ibarra kick), 9:55.
LE-Florence 32 run (Goben kick), 8:51.
GLM-Ward 2 run (pass failed), 7:10.
GLM-Morton 15 pass from Brown (Ibarra kick), 2:35.

Fourth Quarter
LE-Florence 39 run (Goben kick), 9:16.
GLM-Morton 37 pass from Brown (run failed), 8:36.
LE-Phillips 14 run (kick failed), 8:12.
GLM-Red Jones 11 run (Ibarra kick), 6:33.
LE-LaDerrick Gray 25 pass from Phillips (Goben kick), 4:29.

Team Totals: L-E = Gilmer
First Downs: 23 = 26
Yards Rushing: 49-383 = 34-74
Yards Passing: 96 = 578 (there is some debate over the exact total and LSG will find out)
Passes A-C-I: 12-5-3 = 45-34-0
Fumbles-Lost: 2-0 = 1-0
Penalties: 5-40 = 11-89
Punts-Avg.: 4-39.3 = 5-30.2

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING—Liberty-Eylau, Florence 19-164, Levingston 18-126, Phillips 5-66, Cross 6-17, Hoof 1-10. Gilmer, Rashaad Ward 17-59, Kelton Collier 5-9, D. Jones 1-11, R. Jones 1-11, Brown 9-(minus 24), Trendon Brooks 1-8.
PASSING—Liberty-Eylau, Phillips 5-7-1-96, Cross 0-7-2-0. Gilmer, Brown 34-45-0-578.
RECEIVING—Liberty-Eylau, Cross 3-27, Aaron Bruce 1-44, Gray 1-25. Gilmer, Morton 10-259, Collier 8-144, R. Jones 4-49, Heath 2-32, Kollin Hurt 2-20, D. Jones 2-17, Ward 2-1, Dimitri Fort 1-6, Nathan Mize 1-7, RYan Lawhorn 1-9, Jordan Johnson 1-4.

Stats provided by Josh Richert (Texarkana Gazette)

What do you have to say?