Aiden Gibson Leads Woodruff in Dominant Win Over Mountain View Prep, Wolverines Near Region Title
By: Garrett Mitchell, Staff Writer | garrett@thewoodrufftimes.com
There was a lot of talk coming from the Mountain View Prep camp in the days leading up to the Wolverines’ top-five match-up with the Stars.
In the end, Aiden Gibson had the final word.
Woodruff’s generational junior running back ran over, around, and many times through an MVP defense that was hard-pressed to contain him, and following the Wolverines’ 49-28 demolition, a game they led 43-7 in the third quarter, Gibson had a parting message for the Wolverines’ beleaguered opponent.
“We’re going to keep competing,” said an emphatic Gibson. “Internet talking don’t do nothing. Stop internet talking. It won’t get you nowhere.”
The game itself was never in doubt after the first quarter. Woodruff survived a muffed punt, which led to an empty possession for Mountain View after taking over inside the Wolverines’ 25-yard line, and from that point, Woodruff seized control.
Gibson began his highlight reel performance on the ensuing drive with a 38-yard touchdown run, complete with bulldozing a Stars defender on his way to the endzone. Two possessions later, quarterback Connor Davis connected with sophomore wide receiver Curtis Bell on a 42-yard scoring strike to up the Wolverines’ lead to 14-0 with 1:10 to play in the first quarter.
Gibson would add three more touchdowns in the second quarter.
Aiden ripped off a blazing 72-yard run down the home sideline for his second score, followed up by a 44-yard dash to paydirt two trips later. But his most scintillating feat of the night came on his fourth touchdown run of the first half when he took a handoff from Davis, bounced right, shook a would-be tackler, and then stiff-armed two more defenders to the ground on the way to a 62-yard score.
Gibson finished the first half with 255 rushing yards and four scores.
The only score for Mountain View in the first half came on a two-yard Mak Anderson run that briefly trimmed the Stars’ deficit to 21-7, but MVP found themselves trailing 36-7 at the half, and by then the game was all but over.
It was not just the offense, though, that put on a show. The Woodruff defense constantly harassed quarterback Anderson and the Stars’ offense all night. The Wolverines’ defensive unit totaled 10 tackles for loss, three sacks, 18 quarterback hurries, and a fumble recovery.
“The passion (the defense) plays with, the effort, and the way they fly to the ball is phenomenal,” stated Woodruff head coach Brett Sloan. “It was a super special effort by a really great group of guys on that side of the ball. Jordan Hood, Shaun Graybill, Travon Lee, and Malachi on the back end, Kori Moates, if I listed everybody who played well, we would be talking about the whole roster.”
For ‘War Daddy’ Graybill, Woodruff’s bruising senior linebacker, it was all about locking in and the defense doing their jobs, too.
“We treated the entire week like it was just another game,” said Graybill. “There were a lot of distractions going on the whole week, homecoming week, but it was just another game on the list. Everybody did their job, and it was beautiful to see.
Woodruff would add two more scores in the second half, with Gibson adding one final exclamation point with a 50-yard catch and run, his fifth touchdown of the night. Sophomore running back R.J. Byrd got in on the fun with a 56-yard burst for his second rushing touchdown of the season.
Mountain View would score three times in the second half, but two of those came in the fourth quarter when the outcome had long been decided.
“Our guys believed they could win it and they expected to win it,” Sloan said. “We talked the last two weeks that we didn’t have to do anything special to win, we just had to do our jobs and do it at a really high level. That was really our focus.”
Gibson finished his career night with 18 carries for 299 yards, just 13 yards short of the single-game Woodruff rushing record. Davis completed eight passes for 120 yards, and Bell finished with two receptions for 52 yards.
(Aiden) is a pretty good football player,” added Sloan. “Nothing he does really surprises you very often.”
Anderson led the Stars in rushing with 87 yards on 20 carries and completed 23 of 46 passes. Mountain View was led in receiving by Chase Richards and Juice Miller with 67 yards apiece. Taking away Anderson’s rushing total, MVP tallied just 25 total rushing yards among its other ball carriers.
It was a statement win for Woodruff, and one that was personal following last year’s heartbreaking loss to Mountain View. Gibson had vowed that the game would not be lost on his shoulders, and when the lights came on at W.L. Varner Stadium, the Wolverines’ star delivered on that promise with a performance for the ages while bringing the Wolverines to the precipice of their first region title since 2015.
“It was all my coaches trusting me as a playmaker, giving me the ball, and my offensive line opening up holes for me,” Gibson added. “We have other players on this team like Kori Moates, Kam Taylor, Kayden Barnaby, the offensive line, everybody. You can’t just cover me because we have others who will hurt you too, and I keep telling people that.”
Author: gmitchell85
