By Noah Dalton
BLOOMFIELD – Mitchell traveled to Eastern Greene on Friday for their third straight week playing on the road.
Despite a strong start from the Bluejackets, which led to a rather back-and-forth first half between the two sides, the Thunderbirds were able to pull away from Mitchell as the game progressed, ultimately coming away with a 59-26 victory on the night, marking their first win of the season.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle the Bluejackets faced against Eastern Greene, both figuratively and literally, was their quarterback and defensive lineman Peyton Lewis.
Lewis, who measures in at six feet two inches tall and 285 pounds, led the charge for Eastern Greene, serving as the catalyst for their offense that ultimately led them to the win. He ran for 229 yards on 21 attempts, with three touchdowns, adding on two more touchdowns through the air, completing 7/11 tries for 93 yards.
Much of his output on the ground came after initial contact from the Bluejackets’ defense, as he was often able to shed a tackle or two on his way to a big gain.
“We just didn’t wrap up. We had our heads down because he’s a big guy, he carries a lot behind him. He runs hard and he’s athletic for how big he is,” Mitchell head coach Zach See said regarding Lewis.
It was the Bluejackets who struck first in the matchup as the first to put points on the board.
After forcing punts on the Thunderbirds’ first two possessions, Mitchell took over near the end of the first quarter for their second drive, after moving the ball deep into Eastern Greene territory on their first possession, but failing to convert and turning the ball over on downs on their 13-yard line.
A few plays later, Bluejackets’ quarterback Cam Gilstrap completed a short pass to Gavin Robinson, who found space near the sideline to carry the ball all the way to the endzone, in what ended up being a 73-yard scoring effort to give Mitchell an early advantage.
It didn’t take long for the Thunderbirds to respond with a big play of their own to get themselves on the board, as Lewis connected with Ayden Deckard just a few minutes later for a 55-yard touchdown, with the team taking a 7-6 lead after scoring on the PAT.
The two sides continued their duel, exchanging a few more touchdowns, a 57-yard carry from Gilstrap to put the Bluejackets ahead on the next drive, which was promptly answered by a short rushing TD from #5 shortly after, leaving the score at 14-12 in favor of Eastern Greene after a pair of failed two-point conversion attempts from Mitchell.
The Bluejackets’ offense did not let up, once again moving the ball deep into Thunderbirds’ territory, settled on their 15-yard line on their next attempt, ultimately finding themselves on fourth down, needing two yards to keep the drive alive after back-to-back first down receptions from Malakai Goodman.
After consecutive penalties pushed them back 10 yards, Mitchell turned the ball over on downs, conceding possession to Eastern Greene with just over two minutes left in the half.
The Thunderbirds made the most of their time, moving the ball down to the Bluejackets’ 10-yard line, though they’d used most of that remaining clock to get there.
Left with around 5 seconds on the clock, Eastern Greene called what appeared it would be the final play of the half, snapping the ball to Lewis, who was quickly met by pressure from the swarming Bluejackets’ defense.
It didn’t take long for a couple of Mitchell defenders to bring down Lewis for a sack, or so it appeared.
As he was falling flat to his back, aided by a couple of Bluejackets dragging him down, Lewis managed to lob up a pass into the endzone, finding receiver Brody Teague for a touchdown with 0.7 seconds left on the clock.
The Thunderbirds’ kickoff following that play sailed out of bounds, giving Mitchell time for one more snap before the end of the half. Unfortunately for the Bluejackets, that final snap soared over the head of Gilstrap, forcing him to dash back to recover the ball and breaking up any play they’d drawn up.
Gilstrap managed to snag the loose ball and attempted to pitch the ball to a teammate but missed the mark, leaving it loose once again. This time, Mitchell wasn’t as fortunate, as the Thunderbirds recovered the ball and brought it 50 yards to the endzone for another touchdown to close the half.
Suddenly, what was at one point just a two-point game after a back-and-forth first half was now a 28-12 advantage in favor of the Thunderbirds as the two sides headed to the locker room.
“We played well, until the last 30 seconds, we played well and it’s the same thing that we talk about every week, we shoot ourselves in the foot. We shoot ourselves in the foot twice, and they score off both of them, and we’ve got to fix it,” said See.
“Until we fix those things, it’s going to be tough for us to see where we can go. We’ve got to fix those things before we can see where we can go, where this team can get to, its full potential. And, I have full confidence in them. If they can change those things, young or not, if we can change those little things, those bad snaps, the bad meshes, the dropping the ball on the ground. We can fix it, but we’ve got to have full focus day in and day out.”
From there, with the momentum firmly on their side, Eastern Greene continued to add to their lead, with Lewis scoring his first rushing TD of the night on a one-yard carry after the Thunderbirds forced and recovered another fumble on Mitchell’s opening drive.
Though the Bluejackets continued to battle and got a few touchdowns of their own before the final whistle, those coming via a 37-yard completion from Gilstrap to Blake King and a 33-yard rush from Gilstrap respectively, they weren’t able to stop the Thunderbirds’ offense, largely led by Lewis, who racked up number rushing TDs in the second half, one of which was set up after he forced a fumble on defense and managed to recover the ball himself.
Gilstrap finished the night with 183 yards in 13 completions, two of which resulted in touchdowns. His top targets were Robinson, who had three receptions for 70 yards, King, who had four catches for 51 yards and Goodman, who finished with three catches for 42 yards.
Gilstrap was the team’s leading ball carrier on the night with 104 yards on 10 attempts with two touchdowns. Robinson added 46 yards on the ground
“The offense looked better tonight. We’ve just got to take care of the ball. We have turnovers and the defense doesn’t even force them, that’s never good. So, we’ve got to take better care of the ball. I think, other than those three or four mistakes, I felt like there was a step forward because obviously, we put more points up,” said See.
“I think the offense has gotten better. We’ve just got to continue to keep chugging away. And like I said, I just told them over there, ‘I’ll never lose faith in you. I’m never going to give up on you, but we’ve got to continue to stay together, and we’ve got to continue to work.'”
After an 0-4 start for the team, See said Mitchell will need to continue to keep their heads up and continue their hard work as they look to improve ahead of the second half of the season.
“Well, we’ll come in tomorrow morning, watch some film on this game, and then this game is done. This game is in the past, and we’ve got to look forward to next week. We’ve got to keep chugging and just come closer and closer. Every time we face adversity, it’s just got to pull us closer in the end,” See said.
After three straight games on the road, the Bluejackets will return to Terry Cole Field next Friday for the first time since their season opener against Edgewood.
This time, Mitchell will be taking on Crawford County (0-4) for their Homecoming game.
“I think we’re all looking forward to finally being back home and getting to play on the home field. So it’ll be, should be a good week, a lot of energy,” he said.
“I’ve told them that you got to bring the energy. I can’t ask for the energy every day. You guys got to bring it. So, I think we’ll see a good bounce back from our guys, and I think they’ll be positive going into next week as they have been throughout this season.”
