By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Forget ebbs and flows. Captain Shreve’s football team has experienced the extremes this season, and as the Gators prepare for their playoff visit to Hammond Friday night, they’ve regained their mojo.
That dance away from the brink of total collapse has earned Captain Shreve the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Team of the Week nod.
A month ago, Shreve seemed to be peaking, coming into a visit to Evangel on a four-game win streak in District 1-5A, leaving the Gators level with the Eagles and Parkway’s Panthers, unbeaten in league play.
But a spate of injuries, mostly on defense, weighed heavily as Jeremy Wilburn’s team hit the toughest stretch of the schedule – Evangel, followed by perennial state power Destrehan in a non-district game, with unbeaten Parkway next up.
Evangel blew out Shreve, 71-25. Destrehan rolled at Lee Hedges Stadium, 68-28. Parkway scored on its first two tries to make it 22 consecutive possessions that had been scoring drives against the Gators. The boys in green and gold were on very shaky ground.
Then Shreve’s defense got a stop. Later, another. And another.
“You don’t get to pick your trajectory. You’ve got to take your lumps and grow from there,” said Wilburn, the Gators’ second-year coach. “It doesn’t matter what line of work you’re in, or what sport you’re playing, you’ve got to learn from your mistakes, work with your colleagues or teammates, and become better as a unit, and as individuals.”
The Gators growled. They climbed out of a 15-point fourth-quarter hole and tied the Panthers with four minutes to go. Parkway prevailed on a methodical, but hard-earned, game-closing drive to a last-play field goal for a 45-42 escape.
But it was something of a triumph for Wilburn’s squad.
“Right in the middle of our toughest stretch in the schedule, all of a sudden because of injuries, we had a lot of pups playing. We had 4-5 sophomores on defense playing 90 percent of the snaps at Parkway, and should have walked out of there with a win if we could have executed better on extra points,” he said. “It was a really proud moment for me to see the leaders step up, on the coaching side and the kids buying in to what they were being coached to do.”
Shreve has won its last two, 65-44 over Haughton and 35-27 last Thursday over arch-rival Byrd. The Gators defense slowed down the Yellow Jackets’ running game like no other 1-5A team had in a 35-27 Week 10 victory.
With Jamarcea Plater, Shawn Devers, Gabe Lockett and Kendrick Law fueling the Gators’ offense, led by a rapidly-developing Jackson Gaskin at quarterback, putting up points is Shreve’s forte. Now that the defense has some backbone, the Gators (6-4) are back in gear at playoff time.
Injuries forced a youth movement on defense. Sophomores Zhayden Sessions, Tmon Lemons (linebackers), Derayl Veal and Elijah Turner up front, and Braylon Pickens in the secondary have answered the bell, along with senior defensive back Andrew Sharp.
“They didn’t flinch,” Wilburn said. “Beginning in that Parkway game, in the last three weeks, we’ve developed momentum. There’s nothing like finding out that under the lights on Fridays, good things happen and you realize you can do this job. You believe in what you’re getting told and you’re carrying what you learn from practice reps and from film, and it’s a special moment. You can see the confidence in the eyes of those young kids.”
Offensively, Gaskin’s development has been shockingly good. He wasn’t on the team when preseason began, having stepped away after his freshman season to focus on baseball. But when Shreve suddenly needed a starting QB, he took on the challenge.
“This is a quarterback league, as good as any district in the state in that regard, and he’s really raised his level of play consistently week to week. For not having played football for a few years, to step out there and perform at his level is remarkable,” said Wilburn.
“He’s a super smart kid, an elite competitor, a guy who loves to work at things. He’s seeing things on tape and in meetings and asking higher-level questions and making suggestions that are very, very insightful.”
An early injury benched big senior offensive tackle Donovan Jones. His younger brother, sophomore Dylan Jones, stepped in.
“He is a special talent who has a great football IQ,” said Wilburn. “He’s asking questions that I’d hear seniors ask when I was coaching college ball. He’s 15, has two years of high school left, and he’s a massive (6-4, 332) kid who has been an absolutely bulldog in the box this year.”
Andre Campbell has played every spot from left to right tackle. The senior “makes all the calls and has been our Mr. Consistent who keeps the O-line together,” said Wilburn.
Two more seniors, Brayden McDuffey and Rashaun Morrison, have shined up front. Showing they belong have been a couple of sophomores: Jeremiah Jordan and Ro-Treyvion Swan. Freshman Tyrone Proby started at center last week.
Despite being tantalized by the long-term potential, Wilburn is most pleased with how his Gators have pulled it back together instead of folding.
“That’s something that we can all take pride in,” he said.
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