Comebacks, delays becoming normal at South Gibson

Riley Jenkins returned a kickoff deep into Obion County territory late in South Gibson’s game with the Rebels on Friday night.

A few plays later, Hornets quarterback Dustin Moore connected with Corey Needham for a 15-yard touchdown pass.

That pair of plays were the difference in South Gibson’s 47-42 victory over Obion County.

The Rebels had scored late in the fourth quarter to take a 42-21 lead on the Hornets, but the kick return set up the go-ahead score that wound up being the difference in the game.

“It was a back-and-forth game where both teams did a good job moving the ball, especially in the second half,” said South Gibson head coach Scott Stidham. “Both teams made stops throughout the night, but with both teams scoring as much as we did, I think it’s obvious both offenses did a good job too.”

The game-winning sequence was a fitting end to an abnormal night for the Hornets.

They were scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. The line of storms that moved through West Tennessee and delayed most kickoffs forced the teams back in their locker rooms about 6:50.

The game wouldn’t kick off until 8:50.

“We just told the guys to stay in the locker room and off their feet and just hang out until it was over,” Stidham said. “The thing is you never know how long these delays will last.

“If we’d known it was going to be two hours, we might’ve thought about renting a movie for them or something. But we did tell them to keep their phones in their bags and let them get to know their teammates a little better.”

Both teams wanted to play if at all possible on Friday since Obion County traveled so far for the game and South Gibson has a long road trip to Nolensville in Week 3.

“Our Friday routine will already be throwing things off some already for the entire week, so I wanted to try to get the game played on Friday and not be a day behind in game prep for next week,” Stidham said. “But Obion also wanted to get the game played because it’s not like they’re right across the street from us.”

Stidham said they made sure to keep the players hydrated and anyone that wanted to eat was given a light snack of fruit or Gatorade energy gel.

But the situation was nothing the Hornets weren’t already accustomed to.

“It seems like more times than not over the past month of having practice, we’ve had to deal with lightning delays,” Stidham said. “We had a lightning delay for our photo day.

“But when we came in, we told them we were prepared for this and we should be used to it. And the kids did a good job of staying relaxed and off their feet and letting that pregame rush of adrenaline die down until we needed them to have it when we actually did start playing.”

It was after 11 p.m. when the game finally ended with the dramatic ending, which was the second comeback in as many games after the Hornets fell behind early at Jackson Christian last week.

“It’s not how we want to win games, but we’ll take them,” Stidham said.

Brandon Shields, 425-9751