Hawks fly by Governors in second half

LOVINGSTON — Nelson County stayed right with Gretna for the first half as the Governors and the Hawks went into halftime tied at 14-14.

But Gretna’s running backs started to find some room by cutting back against an over-pursuing Nelson County defense and scored 22 unanswered points to stay undefeated in the Dogwood District with a 36-14 victory on Friday.

“It was a big win for us,” Gretna coach Kevin Saunders said. “I thought the kids played hard. We are getting better and we keep playing good football.”

The Hawks (5-1, 2-0 Dogwood) had just 81 yards rushing on 11 carries in the fisrt half, but exploded for 209 yards on the ground in the second half.

“We made a couple of mistakes and got caught up inside,” Nelson County coach Mark Wells said. “Those guys are pretty quick, and we had to do a better job of tackling them.”

The bulk of that came from senior Andre Dickerson. Dickerson ran for 113 of his 148 yards and both touchdowns in the second half.

“They were pursuing, but I was able to get enough time and blocks to get to the outside,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson repeatedly cut back against the grain of the pursuing defense to find extra running room in the second half. He would often end up completely on the other side of the field from where he started as he burned the Governors’ defense.

Dickerson’s first score came on a 7-yard run that capped a three-play drive and was set up when Governors’ punter Jordan Wooten shanked a punt and gave Gretna the ball at Nelson County 34.

Jelmer Pijpers added the extra point and Gretna took a 21-14 lead with 7:25 to go in the third.

The teams traded interceptions for the next three possessions.

The final pick in the string of turnovers was made by Gretna’s Kevin Dale at the end of the third quarter.

The Hawks took over on the Governors’ 46 and needed three plays to score. Dickerson did the honors with a 38-yard run. Pijpers made the score 28-14 with 10:55 left to play.

Gretna’s final score came when Antony Reynolds returned an interception 35 yards for a touchdown.

It was the fourth pick of the night for the Hawks and the second that was returned for a touchdown.

Joe McGhee had a pair of interceptions and returned one 14 yards for a score in the second quarter that made it 14-7 Gretna.

“We are pretty good at (picking off passes),” Saunders said. “That gives us 12 in six games. Our secondary is pretty good.”

The Governors were led offensively by Trey Barnett. Barnett finished with 99 yards rushing, and completed a 25-yard pass on a halfback option pass. Nelson had just 176 yards of total offense.

“I thought our defense played great,” Wells said. “There were just a couple of times where we didn’t maintain our responsibilities. They are the No. 1 team in the state and we played toe-to-toe with them.”