'He's everybody's game plan:' Hays RB Gabriel Peach's big run helps Hawks down Johnson
· Yahoo Sports
BUDA - On the game's most important possession, Hays' Gabriel Peach showed Friday why he's arguably one of the top running backs in Central Texas.
With Johnson having the momentum after rallying from a 15-point halftime deficit to tie the contest, Peach broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and outran the secondary for a 30-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter that was ultimately the winning score during the Hawks' 41-28 victory at Bob Shelton Stadium in the first meeting between the Hays CISD schools.
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But while that marked Peach's only score in the game - he finished with 129 yards on 18 carries - Hays coach Mark Torres said the shifty and speedy senior accounted for so much more in the District 26-6A opener for both programs.
"(Peach) is responsible for probably four touchdowns that he didn't score," said Torres, who is in his second season leading Hays. "Everybody's running towards him, and receivers break loose in the secondary. Everybody's running towards him, and the quarterback pulls it on a fake to run it into the end zone. Everybody's running with him, and we throw a screen to somebody else for a touchdown. He attracts so much attention because he's special, and he's special every week. He's everybody's game plan. He's got 22 eyes on him from the defense. That's why he's special, and he still made his own play."
While his play is electric, Peach is soft-spoken and humble. He credited his offensive line for his success and was more concerned about the team winning than any personal stats.
"This means a lot to us," said Peach, who already has 645 rushing yards this season. "It shows that we're getting better as a team. … We were defending our home turf. This is our home field."
A budding rivalry?
Though the schools are less than seven miles apart and both use Bob Shelton Stadium for home games, they had never met. Johnson, which opened in 2019 and began playing varsity in 2020, was in 5A for its first two years while Hays was in 6A. That flipped for the last four years before the Hawks jumped back up in February's realignment.
Dubbed the "Buda Bowl," the game brought online trash talking during the week - "We tuned that all out," Hays wideout Cohen Ball said - a standing-room-only crowd and multiple big-time performances from the Hawks.
Ball, who stands 5 feet 4, returned a kickoff 80 yards for a TD and took a quick pass 40 yards for another score, dodging several would-be tacklers in the process.
"How we won the game was because of the kind of effort he showed with the big playmaking ability," Torres said. "If everybody in the world had that guy's heart, oh man, what an awesome world it would be."
Though Torres isn't a fan of stats, noting, "I hate stats. They're for losers. We won the game. That's what matters," his quarterback's stat line shone the most. Nate Roland threw for 204 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another score. His 26-yard TD pass to Jayden Gingrow on fourth-and-11 late in the fourth quarter put the game away.
"We faced a little adversity after halftime, but we overcame it," Roland said. "We did what we knew how to do."
While it may not have the history of Anderson-McCallum or Westlake-Lake Travis, Hays-Johnson could be Central Texas' hottest new rivalry. And it's something that wasn't lost on the players.
"Winning this is huge," Ball said. "We're lucky to be the first group of seniors to play Johnson and set the tone for the younger guys, and I can't wait to watch this rivalry as it goes on."
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