High School Football: Gibbon carries Hilliard Davidson by Dublin Jerome
Friday, September 1, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Hilliard Davidson’s Keevin Gibbon finds running room in a 17-13 win over host Dublin Jerome on Sept. 1. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Hilliard Davidson football coach Jeremey Scally called a timeout with 8 minutes, 39 seconds remaining in the first quarter facing a fourth-and-1 play and looked into the eyes of his players.
What he saw came to fruition as Keevin Gibbon burst through the left side for 6 yards and a first down.
Three plays later, he broke a 31-yard run to set up Johnny DiBlasio’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Drew Remlinger and Davidson never lost the lead in a 17-13 win at Dublin Jerome on Sept. 1 in the first meeting between the two programs.
“For me, I’m going to look into the eyeballs of our kids,” said Scally, whose team improved to 3-0. “I know how they prepare and know what they have invested – I’ll roll with it. They trust us and we trust them. (Those plays) test the ticker a little bit, for sure. But it’s about putting the ball in our kids’ court and saying, ‘Go get it.’ I’m super confident in them.”
Gibbon, who converted two other fourth down plays for the Wildcats, ran 30 times for 158 yards, including 10 carries for 62 yards on the opening drive to give Davidson a 6-0 with 4:49 in the first.
Dublin Jerome’s Brady Faller (right) pursues Hilliard Davidson’s Johnny DiBlasio during the host Celtics’ 17-13 loss Sept. 1. Photo: John Hulkenberg
“I just know to execute to the best of my ability. That’s all I can do,” Gibbon said. “I just put my head down and run behind my blockers ahead of me.”
Gibbon wasn’t averse to the workload.
But he got help from DiBlasio, who broke a 29-yard run to set up another touchdown pass to Remlinger – this time from 11-yards out.
Dayne Schmidt carried 10 times for 52 yards and DiBlasio added six carries for 44 yards and caught a 2-point pass from his brother Josh DiBlasio to give Davidson a 14-0 cushion at the 6:26 mark of the second quarter.
Kyle White went 13 of 22 passing for 198 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for the Celtics, who fell to 2-1.
“I think we ran 10 plays in the first half and couldn’t get off the field (on defense),” Jerome coach Brett Glass said. “It was a miracle we were in the game. We had chances in the second half. We just need to make more plays, and obviously coach better. But you can’t fault our kids’ effort. We played really hard, just came up on the short side of the stick.”
Hilliard Davidson’s Job Hickey (9) and Caden Wilson help wrap up Dublin Jerome’s Kyle White in the Wildcats’ 17-13 win Sept. 1. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Carson Bleeks caught a 13-yard touchdown pass where he broke a tackle and had to stretch the ball over the goal line to help Jerome cut Davidson’s lead to 14-7 at the break.
Paul Knapke came through with a couple of big plays on defense for the Wildcats. In the third quarter, he had a pass break-up on fourth down and an interception. The latter set up an Andrew Lewis 39-yard field goal to make it 17-7 Davidson with 9:41 left.
Zach Thomas had six catches for 132 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter for the Celtics, who travel to Dublin Coffman on Sept. 8.
Caden Wilson and Marcus Allen each had fumble recoveries for the Wildcats, who host rival Hilliard Darby on Sept. 8.
“We were just super resilient,” Knapke said. “We got put in some tough spots, but we made plays. That’s really what it’s all about. Our offense did their job and kept their offense off the field and we made plays when we needed to.”