GATESVILLE, Texas — Gatesville seniors Zavier Clater and Rayshon Smith stepped up big time for the Hornets last Friday Night.
Gatesville rallied back from a 20-point deficit in the fourth quarter to stun Connally all thanks to a blocked field goal by Clater.
“That's his third block of the year," said head coach Aaron Hunter. "Every week he's close to blocking a lot more. But for that one, perfect timing, perfect angle, perfect hand placement, everything that we worked on. So we're really proud of him.”
Smith also helping lead Gatesville back into the game scoring four touchdowns, rushing for 240 total yards for 46 carries.
Coach Hunter said, "I say this every week and I'll continue to say that he's the most underrated player in central Texas. And it shows by his, his work he puts in and the effort he puts in on Friday night. So I'm glad to see him have some success."
The two are not only big time play makers but they are also best friends who have been playing football together ever since they could remember.
“We go way back to little league," said Smith. "We always used to go against each other or originally, he used to be my blocker and we used to trade out.... throughout the years, we've just seen each other grow. We started hanging out a lot outside of football and it's just been amazing. We work out together outside of football practice and we just love seeing each other grow.”
Clater said, "Seeing him grow up and grow together and just hang out outside of school and stuff.”
Last Friday's win was an extra momentum push for the Hornets as they prep for the post-season this Friday. And to set a reminder that you can never count the Hornets out no matter what the score is.
Smith said, “I just feel like it shows how big of a family we are. We always talk about not giving up on each other. And I feel like that really shows cause we was all still bonding, well, still talking to each other, putting our heads high. So I feel like that helped throughout the game.”
“And then we also talk about being uncommon and how like usually if like another team gets in that position, they decide to shut shut down, quit," said Clater. "But like I said, like I said, we was being uncommon and our family just came up to that.”
Gatesville takes on Madisonville in round one of the playoffs Friday night at 7 p.m.