Gilbert’s football team is moving on. 

The Indians punched their ticket to the second round of the 3A playoffs last Friday after earning a 28-27 win at home over Atlantic Collegiate.

It was a close game all night. Each team had its chances to lead, but neither took the reins. Atlantic Collegiate went ahead early in the fourth quarter, but a missed two-point try left a wide-open window for Gilbert to jump through. 

Gilbert took the ball on its next drive and marched downfield before scoring the tying touchdown. With the missed two-point try looming large, the Indians kicked and made their extra-point try to go ahead. 

“We didn’t execute in the second half and had some really unfortunate things that took place,” Indians head coach Ozzie Exume said. “That’s a good football team, and they came out, and they were hungry and prepared and ready to play. I'm just happy that we were able to weather that storm and get a win.” 

Tight end Ethan Collins led the way with two of Gilbert’s four touchdowns. Receiver Chandler Guthrie also scored one on the ground. 

Quarterback Kendall Wright threw for 114 yards and a touchdown. He also made plays with his legs, running for over 100 yards.

Tight end Landon Guyton was on the receiving end of Wright’s touchdown pass. 

The Armada took the first lead of the game, scoring on their opening drive. Atlantic Collegiate kept the drive alive, converting on multiple critical downs and drawing penalties to gain yardage. 

When it was all said and done, the team went on a 16-play, 78-yard drive that resulted in a five-yard rushing score. 

Gilbert’s next drive bled into the second quarter, but the Indians were able to even the score on a one-yard run from Guthrie. 

The second quarter was, by far, the best quarter of football for the Indians. After going back down 14-7, Gilbert pulled off a 14-point swing that gave the team a halftime lead. 

Late in the quarter, Wright and Guthrie connected on a 37-yard pass-and-catch that put the Indians at the Atlantic Collegiate two. The next play, Collins tied the game with a rushing score. 

Atlantic Collegiate got the ball back with under a minute to go, but immediately turned it over, throwing an interception to Gilbert’s DJ Jennings. 

The Indians moved with urgency, getting to the Armada 18-yard line. With less than 15 seconds to go, Wright hit Guyton with a perfect pass in the end zone to go ahead. 

With that touchdown, Gilbert scored 21 of its 28 points in the second period. 

“We’ve been a great second-quarter team all year,” Exume said.  “I’d really love it if we got that for four quarters, but we have a bunch of fighters.” 

The second half was a fight. 

Gilbert’s offense came out of the break slow, giving Atlantic Collegiate the chance to tie. 

The Indians had three drives in the third frame. Two ended in punts and one resulted in a turnover on downs after a failed fake punt. 

Atlantic Collegiate ended the period by putting together a solid drive and continued that in the fourth, taking the lead with 10 minutes to go. 

But instead of kicking the extra point to go up seven, the Armada got too ahead of themselves. The team lined up to go for two. A successful attempt would really put pressure on the home team, Gilbert. However, a failed try put the team in a position where a scored touchdown and made extra-point spells doom, and that’s exactly what happened. 

The Indians had one more scoring drive in them as Wright made plays with his legs to help get Gilbert downfield. 

Working their way to the one-yard line, the Indians tied the game on a punch-in by Collins. 

Kicker Noah Blackwell trotted onto the field and went through his usual extra-point routine. When the ball was snapped, he ran up, put some force in it, and drilled the ball through the uprights to put Gilbert on top. 

“When we needed a drive, we got it. When we needed to end another gam,e we did it,” Exume said. 

The next part of the game was on the back of Gilbert’s defense. 

Atlantic Collegiate still had over six minutes to get the ball back and get the spoiling score. However, the Indians did not let that happen and forced a punt while also taking over two minutes off the clock. 

The offense came back on the field, forced the Armada to use their timeouts and got just enough first downs to drain the clock to zero. 

After the win, there was no meeting at midfield between the two teams. The loss was just too close and too chippy for Atlantic Collegiate to take, and they returned to their locker room in defeat. 

Gilbert, meanwhile, lined up across from their fans in their stands for perhaps the last time this season and celebrated a hard-earned win. 

This week, the Indians will look to continue their playoff run on the road against Hartsville. 

“I think this type of football that we play can travel anywhere,” Exume said. “Our job and focus is just for us to be ready to go.”