The football season finally came to an end this past Friday, when the Hawks narrowly lost to favored Celina in the 3rd round of the Texas High School Playoffs.

The Hawks pushed Celina to the limit but fell just short at 23-19. But this Hawk team will be known for their tenacity and togetherness in extending the season past Thanksgiving Day.

It just about ended differently with a Hawk victory. However a third quarter interception return for a touchdown by Celina proved to be winning play for them. The score was 13-6 Celina at the time and PG looked as if they were going in for the tying score when that play happened.

Coach Josh Gibson says, "That play definitely impacted the game in a big way. I'm not sure how things would've turned out if that play didn't happen, but I would have liked our chances. Our defense held them to 2 touchdowns the whole game and played really well."

As a matter of fact, the Hawks outscored Celina 13 to 3 in the 4th quarter and likely would have won the game if not for the pick six.

These Hawks started the season slowly playing an extremely difficult pre-conference schedule where victories were hard to come by, but experience and toughness was found by these players. They began to roll late in the season beating state ranked teams and into the 3rd round of the playoffs.

Gibson is quite pleased with how his players reacted to the early adversity and persevered  to reach lofty heights," Our number one goal is to grow ourselves and the program. Each year we've continued to build and take steps. We had a great run this year and look forward to more success and growth in the future.

This team had 18 seniors who played their last game as a Hawk last Friday. They have been a part in growing and building the program for the past 3 years that coincides with the hiring of Gibson as Athletic Director and Head Football Coach at the school district. Gibson says, " They put their heart and soul into this program, and more importantly into each other. They treat every kid on the team like family and I believe that was one of our greatest strengths, how close our team was. Our team will miss their overall spirit."

The good news for Pleasant Grove Hawk fans is that the cupboard is not bare. They will return 8 or 9 players on defense. On offense they will return 5 starters for next year. Gibson is excited about the sub-varsity players who will get their chance to shine in the next few years saying, "we have some good underclassmen to help fill some positions, we also have a VERY strong 9th grade class to help fill some of these voids, as well as help us keep the momentum going for the next three years.

I asked Coach Gibson if he wanted to add anything else to wrap up the story and the season. He said, " The thing I'm most proud of is the growth of our program. We've been picked at the bottom or close to the bottom all three of my years at PG, but we've managed to:

1. Make the playoffs all 3 years.

2. Beat some state ranked teams

3. Secure the 2 seed in a district with 5 pre-season top 25 teams

4. Play multiple rounds deep in the playoffs.

All the credit goes to the kids and coaches for buying in and believing in our program. I'm extremely proud of where we are, and look forward to where we are going!"

Coach, we want you to know how proud the community is of your team's growth and accomplishments. There is something special going on at Pleasant Grove in not just football but the entire athletic department. We have no doubt that the PG athletes and their quality coaches will continue to soar.

We have over several articles talked about the football team being like a family. Now some of the family members will be heading to play basketball, baseball, and other sports and some will be graduating next spring. But come next fall many members of this family will once again join together on the football gridiron to play a game they love, and to play it together like family.

GO HAWKS!!

 

 

More From Kicker 102.5