No. 1 Gordon runs away from Strawn in rivalry's 100th year

Sep. 9—GORDON — In a beautiful blend of basketball on grass and smashmouth football, the No. 1 Gordon Longhorns and the Strawn Greyhounds saw its storied rivalry turn 100 years old Saturday night at Longhorn Stadium.

The atmosphere was electric as the storied six-man football teams' game ball was flown in via helicopter and the crowd was serenaded by a rock 'n roll national anthem. The Battle of Palo Pinto Creek, a rivalry that has received recognition from both the UIL and Dave Campbell's Texas Football Magazine, featured packed bleachers on both sides for the 100th matchup of two schools separated by just eight miles.

"They have high expectations in Strawn, and they feel like they already went through their rebuilding phase last year, so they're ready to make a run to meet their community's expectations similar to ours," Longhorns head coach Mike Reed said. "When you have a familiar foe that you continually go against every 365 days, you're going to keep checking each other at every level. The coaches haven't changed in a while, so you just get a familiarity with each other, which makes it exciting to just line up and play football against each other. There's not a whole lot of trickery that comes with it. I thought tonight's game was clean and well played from both sides."

The game itself was a convincing 46-0 win for Gordon, but the competition was clean, hard fought and respectfully competitive throughout.

"You know, it's bragging rights each year, which is something enjoyable for the old-timers of the communities," Strawn head coach DeWaine Lee said. "It's always a fun week, and it's always an exciting atmosphere and a good game — they got the best of us today."

The rivalry dates back several generations, and the ties still hold strong today.

"My dad played in it when he was in high school, and when he went to college, he was a student coach here," Gordon sophomore Stryker Reed said. "He's also coached at Strawn, so he's been on both sides of the rivalry. I was just glad we got to win the 100th anniversary, so we have the most wins of this century."

Gordon wasted no time getting on the scoreboard as the team won the coin toss and elected to receive. On their first play from scrimmage, the Longhorns found the end zone as Stryker Reed found Brayden Walters on a 40-yard touchdown pass that gave Gordon an 8-0 lead with just 13 seconds off the clock.

The Strawn offense then took the field and, after turning it over on downs, Gordon's offense took the field. Instead of another scoring drive, however, the Greyhound defense hunkered down and forced a fumble that it recovered. Despite the strong effort, Gordon's defense forced Strawn to turn it over on downs, and electric sophomore Riley Reed made the Greyhounds pay. Reed caught a 51-yard pass that set up his 8-yard run two plays later. After another successful point-after try, the Longhorns' lead grew to 16-0 with 4:35 to go in the first.

The Longhorn defense ushered Strawn off the field on the ensuing series and the offense scored again as Stryker Reed ran it in from six yards out to push the advantage to 24-0 with 1:33 remaining in the opening quarter.

Gordon, fueled by its impressive team speed throughout the contest, was able to withstand Strawn's continuous physicality and stretched the lead to 40-0 at the half, just five points away from the mercy rule. The team speed Gordon possesses is seen as a big strength for Mike Reed, as it allows the team to execute what they do at an even higher level considering their level of discipline. In addition to this, the players know the advantages it gives them regardless of how they physically match up with opponents.

"I feel like if a team tries to out-athlete us, they probably won't do a good job because I just feel like we have some freaks of nature on our team," Stryker Reed said. "If they're big, we're still athletic enough to get around them and use our explosiveness to go through them."

Gordon was able to stop Strawn on its best offensive drive of the night, one that saw the Greyhounds pick up two big first downs and move the ball past midfield from their own 20. The defense's effort was rewarded as Riley Reed scampered 47 yards to the house for the deciding touchdown and a final margin of 46-0.

"We needed to see a team like that because it only makes us better," Greyhounds head coach DeWaine Lee said. "If we would've just played someone and 45'ed them, we wouldn't be getting any better. They did some things that we needed to see. Nobody likes getting beat like that, but I'm glad we got to play a team with speed like that. They're a very good, well-coached team, so the experience was really good for us."

Riley Reed amassed 125 of Gordon's 199 total yards of offense and accounted for three of the team's six touchdowns. Stryker Reed carried the ball six times for 29 yards and a score and threw the 40-yard touchdown pass to Walters. Noah Kostiha completed two passes for 64 yards and a 13-yard scoring pass to Walters, who caught two touchdown passes for a total of 53 yards.

The Longhorn defense limited Strawn to 67 yards of offense, and Riley Reed, Walters and Kaden Crowe recorded nine tackles apiece. Reed had two tackles for a loss, Walters had four takedowns in the backfield and Crowe finished with one tackle for a loss. Juan Cabrera was also disruptive with six total tackles and three tackles for a loss.

The Longhorn defense finished with 12 tackles for a loss overall, and the product on the field has plenty to do with the culture Mike Reed and his staff have maintained at Gordon.

"I think it really comes down to the families of these boys because a lot of these families were a part of the 1996 and 1999 State Championship teams here, or they played at a high level in their sports they played at," Mike Reed said. "When these kids walk into their homes, they have a level of expectation of how they should act and work, which makes my job a lot easier."

Jesse Corona led Strawn with 28 rushing yards on 10 carries. The Greyhounds forced Gordon to turn the ball over on downs once and forced a fumble that they recovered in the first quarter.

The Greyhounds (1-2) look to get back in the win column at 7:30 p.m. Friday at home against Gorman. Meanwhile, the top-ranked Longhorns (3-0) will go for their fourth win of the season at 7 p.m. Friday at Live Oak Classical in Waco.