Sweet revenge: Gibson Southern uses late comeback as payback for only loss last season

FORT BRANCH, Ind. — Gibson Southern looked left for dead.

The game seemed as good as over when it trailed by 11 with 3:34 remaining. Even after Devan Roberts then ran in a touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion cut the deficit to three points, an onside kick landed in opposing hands.

There was little hope. The student section wasn’t as loud. The parents weren’t as boisterous.

But a third-down fumble changed all of that, and the Titans had 1:54 to work with. After a humbling 42-7 defeat last season to South Warren (KY) — Gibson Southern's only loss in its 3A state championship campaign — head coach Nick Hart took many lessons home.

Friday, the Titans were the teachers, and the lesson was simple: Don’t sleep on Gibson Southern or count Tanner Boyd out. His 16-yard rushing touchdown capped the game-winning drive of the Titans’ 28-24 triumph over the Spartans.

“(Boyd) made a lot of big plays when we needed them,” Hart said. “The last few drives stick out, but he made a lot of big plays for us early. … He was phenomenal tonight.”

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Many pondered whether Boyd could carry the mantle with 2021 Mr. Football Brady Allen gone to Purdue. If his performance Friday is any indication, he certainly has what it takes. He was the difference between two extremely well-matched teams — Gibson Southern had 303 total yards to South Warren’s 300.

Boyd’s 202 total yards accounted for a third of his team’s tally. His two touchdowns, one in the air and the crucial score on the ground, were the deciding factors.

“We knew from the beginning, like, we could beat this team,” Boyd said. “That last drive, we showed what we can do.”

Last season’s loss to South Warren in Bowling Green, Kentucky, showed the Titans (4-0, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A) exactly what Hart hoped it would. He told his players the Spartans were the best team they’d face all season, and that single blemish on the title-winning season’s record showed that.

Both teams were hit hard by graduation. Hart admitted as much. But that doesn’t take anything from the dramatic win.

“That’s the caliber team you've got to beat in the 3A playoffs,” Hart said. “(South Warren is) a big-time team and we got some big games coming, so we can’t just sit back because we did something great tonight. We got to keep getting better as we go through.”

The Titans’ next games don’t allow room for any comfort. Traveling to Southridge (4-0) and Heritage Hills (3-1) before hosting Mount Vernon (3-1) will provide stern tests their hopeful road back to Indianapolis.

Now, the key is remaining fixated on the goal.

“We got to stay focused,” Boyd said. “You got to take one day at a time and watch film and do better.”

Record wise, Gibson Southern is in a better spot than it was a year ago, a difficult feat for a defending champion. The road to this point was anything but linear, though. A challenging first game against Terre Haute South Vigo gave an early scare. Without that Week 1 comeback, perhaps Friday turns out differently.

All it took was a fortunate fumble and putting the ball in Boyd’s hands.

“Well, football’s a funny game, right?” Hart said. “I thought our defense was phenomenal the enitre night. They’ve got a lot of dudes and you’re just picking your poison. … When we started getting stops on defense, I thought our D-line was huge in controling the line of scrimmage and stopping the run, and that allowed us to give some help to those guys.”

Neither Boyd nor Hart talked about growth from last season, but this kind of win is the kind that builds that kind of momentum.

“Oh, I don’t know, that team last year, they were something special,” Boyd said. “But I think we’re something special too. We can go a long way, you just have to work together.”

The winning drive wasn’t all there was to the game, either. South Warren took a 14-0 lead into the second quarter and the Titans battled back from that deficit. Multiple double-digit comebacks in the same game against the only team that beat them last season, that’s a list that would make any coach happy. A relieved smile on Hart’s face postgame showed just that.

But everything comes back to that 16-yard scramble to give Gibson Southern its first lead of the evening. That was Boyd’s touchdown and, frankly, it was his game.

“We just never give up,” Boyd said. “We have a bunch of leaders out there and (the) O-line played great. We just executed really well.”

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: IHSAA football: Gibson Southern rallies to defeat South Warren (KY)