The Gold-Burg Bears magical season came to an end on Friday night.
The Bears lost their area playoff game to Gordon 82-37 to end the most successful season Gold-Burg football has possibly ever had.
The Bears came into the game on a four-game winning streak, all won by the 45-point mercy rule. The Longhorns would be a tougher matchup since Gordon came in with the same 9-2 record as Gold-Burg.
The Bears received the ball first and marched down the field on their first drive that ended with a short touchdown run from Jayon Grace. Gold-Burg then had a chance to go up two scores before the Longhorns had even gotten the ball as the team recovered the onside kick.
Unfortunately, the mistakes started to happen in the Bears’ execution. After getting behind the sticks, a pass was intercepted by Gordon at midfield. It did not take long for the Longhorns to turn that into points, power running right at Gold-Burg and scoring on a 19-yard run.
The good kick put Gordon up 8-6. On the Bear’s next offensive series, a bobbled snap allowed the Longhorns to recover the fumble. A few plays later and Gordon was running in a touchdown from 24 yards out to increase the lead to 14-6.
Gold-Burg bounced back with a successful offensive drive as Jayon got loose for a 28-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 14-13. Before the first quarter ended though, the Longhorns quickly moved down the field on big plays and scored on a short run to make the score 22-13.
At the beginning of the second quarter, the Bears’ offense stalled and turned the ball over on downs. Gold-Burg’s defense did come up with its first stop as a fumble was recovered by Will Hodges.
That did not spark the Bear’s offense though as the team stalled out again on their own side of the field. Gordon then scored on its next play on a 34-yard run to go up 28-13.
With the game looking dire for Gold-Burg, the team got a boost from its special teams. The Longhorns decided to kick a deep but returnable ball on the kickoff. Hodges returned the ball down the right sideline for a touchdown to cut the lead to 28-21.
Unfortunately, the defense still could not stop Gordon as the Longhorns scored quickly on a short run in their response to go back up two scores.
After learning its lesson, Gordon decided to try an onside kick. Not only was it recovered by Gold-Burg’s Jayon, he returned it for another touchdown on special teams, again cutting the lead to one score 36-29.
Unfortunately, the Bears defense just could not stop Gordon. A long 42-yard run up the middle again pushed the lead back to two scores.
It looked like it was about to get worse. The Longhorns recovered the onside kick. Fortunately, Gold-Burg’s defense came up with its second stop, forcing Gordon to turn it over on downs deep in the Bears’ territory.
With less than two minutes to go before halftime, Gold-Burg needed to move the ball far and fast. The Bears did as they moved inside the Longhorns 20-yard line, but just ran out of time.
Gordon led 44-29 at halftime and was getting the ball first in the third quarter.
The Longhorns hit their stride in the second half as Gold-Burg’s defense continued to have no answer while the Bear’s offense kept making self inflicted mistakes that killed drives.
The Longhorns scored on their first three possessions of the first half to increase the lead to 68-29. During this time the Bear’s offense had been forced into a turnover on downs and had failed to recover an onside kick.
On Gold-Burg’s next offensive drive, the team executed and quickly drove down the field like it had in the first half. The Bears then scored on a nine-yard run from Jayon to cut the lead to 68-37. Unfortunately, it would be the last positive thing for Gold-Burg.
Gordon returned the favor from earlier in the game as a player recovered the Bears onside kick and returned it for a touchdown.
Gold-Burg’s offense stalled once more and the Longhorns scored shortly after, making the extra point to end the game early with the final score being 82-37.

To read the full story, pick up a copy of the mid-week edition of the Bowie News.