Hawks Dominate Paris, Prepare for Trip to Frisco Next Week
Pleasant Grove dominated all phases of Friday nights game against the Paris Wildcats.
The Hawks 45-13 victory gives PG a 2--0 record to start the year and some momentum heading into a bye week.
Coach Josh Gibson was obviously quite pleased with his players efforts, saying, "Paris is a very good football team (ranked #12 in 4A-Division I), I felt like we dominated the game both offensively and defensively, and was extremely pleased with our performance."
For the second week in a row, the PG Defense held a very athletic team well under 200 total yards. Paris, who scored 47 points in an opening night victory over Terrell was held in check, most of the night by the stingy Hawks defense.
Offensively the Hawks put up big points and big numbers, effective both running and passing the football..Gibson saw big improvements on that side of the ball from the first game, "We took a big step from game one. Our goal this week was to control the line of scrimmage and I felt like we did that. Our Offensive Line and Running Backs blocked a lot better and we moved the ball extremely well.'
Austin Toller had a huge night for the Hawks, scoring two touchdowns, including a fumble pick up and return into the end zone. As expected Coach was very proud of Toller's effort. "Austin Toller is a great football player, and one of the best players in our district."
T.J. Cole and Josh Roberts both scored two touchdowns apiece for the Hawks in an avalanche of points against the Wildcats.
One nice thing about the big victory was the ability of the coaching staff to put in some of the backups towards the end of the game. Gibson says anytime you can get kids in the game, they get better and it is important to create depth by playing more people.
This week is the Hawks only off week between now and the end of the season. Gibson likes where it is landing and says it will give them two weeks to prepare for a tough offensive scheme at Frisco. The extra time will also give them a chance to focus on some grade issues and academics.
Gibson says the team will use the two weeks to study Frisco's scheme, work on it and focus on their own personnel and team growth.
The game in Frisco, on Friday September 22nd will be at a great venue. Toyota Stadium seats 25,000, is state of the art, and of course has the huge jumbo-trons. Gibson thinks it is a great experience for the kids, "Not many high school teams get opportunities like this, we are very fortunate, and we encourage all of our fans and community to come support us on the 22nd."
Gibson adds the team was very thankful they had the opportunity to share the night, last Friday, with PGYA, the Pleasant Grove Youth Association. He says they had a ton of little kids down on the sidelines before the game, in the locker room for the pre-game, and out the tunnel with the big boys. Gibson says, "Those kids are our future and it was awesome to get them involved."
The Hawks are about to head into a very tough stretch of games following the break, four in a row on the road, before returning for Homecoming against the Atlanta Rabbits on October 20.
PG fans need to travel in large numbers to support their kids over the next month. One thing's for sure, the Hawk coaches and players aren't backing down, from any of the challenges ahead, but looking forward to it.