25 Teams in 25 Days: Gautier Gators
More than halfway home here on News 25’s 25 Teams in 25 Days as we begin our descent with Gautier High School.
In 2019, the Gators were unable to match the preseason hype around the program and that’s exactly why they have the chance to make good on those expectations a year later.
Head Coach Marcus High said, “Finish is basically telling them it’s not over until the clock hits zero. So you’ve got to finish every play, every rep, everything that you do, every lift in the weight room, every run you do, every play that we do in practice, you’ve got to finish the play.”
Gautier is certainly ready to turn the page after last year’s 3-8 showing but in doing so the Gators are actually taking a page out of their own book in terms of what not to do late in games. “We’ve just got to get the job done. That’s all we’ve got to do and we’ll be good.”
QB Kaden Irving said, “Especially when we’re tired late in games, just find an extra gear to push through.”
The second half, and the fourth quarter in particular, were both issues for the Gators last season. In week 2, Gautier failed to close out Biloxi at home with a fourth quarter lead and then in week three squandered a 14-nothing halftime shut out on the road at Hancock who went on to score 28 unanswered points in the second half. “I think that was something that changed the whole season, that and the Hancock game.”
Defensive end Kaleb Beavers said, “I mean yeah, a game can always go good. It’s just we’ve got to keep it coming. We kind of let up, or if something bad happened, momentum gets lost so we’ve got to gain that back.”
The Gators even gave away a fourth quarter lead against Pascagoula on their way to an overall district record of 2-5 in region 4 class 5A. But to be fair, Gautier was doing all of this with a freshman quarterback, now sophomore QB, Kaden Irving who is already committed to play baseball at Ole Miss and is just as committed to letting the game of football come to him. “Last year, I definitely got hit in the mouth when we started playing the Picayunes and the Wayne Countys. But just maybe more mature and slowing everything down and having fun.”
“He’s both. He’s a dual guy and he takes it that way. He had a pretty good summer with his baseball and whenever he wasn’t in baseball, he was here. So he didn’t miss a beat all summer long.”
Another big name to look out for is junior offensive lineman Bryson Hurst, who saw his recruitment blow up this offseason, having already received FBS offers from Auburn, Tennessee, Florida State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Missouri, and UAB.
But prior to his future in the division I ranks is a Gautier future yet to be determined by this year’s class of 20 seniors, starving for the program’s first trip back to the playoffs since 2014. “They’re hungry. This group is hungry. So we’ve been able to see that through the off-season and all of that.”
“We say we’re going to go out with a bang. We’ve got to get the job done. We’ve got to win. We’ve got to put on for the city. That’s all we can do.”
As a result of COVID-19, Gautier lost Vancleave at home on August 21st and Biloxi away on August 28th while also picking up a road date at Moss Point on September 18th. The Gators open up the season on September 4th at home against Hancock with the same GATE motto as last year standing for Grades Attitude Toughness and Effort.
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