Gilbert’s playoff run ends in heartbreaker as Dillon scores late for the win
Neither team wanted their seasons to end in the 3A playoffs. But Dillon escaped with a 41-34 victory, but not without Gilbert’s dramatic closing scene.
After Dillon wide receiver Quashod Singleton scored his second touchdown of the fourth quarter with 16 seconds to go, the Indians got the ball back. Quarterback Jy Tolen hurled a deep pass to Alec Holt, who caught it and burst through Dillon defenders to reach the 12-yard line with three seconds left.
On the final play, Tolen took the snap and fired to Dre Cook in the end zone. Cook got his hands on the ball, but failed to gain possession as time expired.
“We came up a little short there,” Gilbert head coach Chad Leaphart said. “It was a tough one, a tough one. I’m so proud of my guys.”
Tolen completed 23 of 28 passes for 300 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. Holt caught two touchdowns, had five catches for 129 yards and threw a TD pass.
Dillon (11-1) will play May River next week for the Lower State Championship.
Dillon, which rushed for 57 yards and passed for 62 in the first half, spent the third quarter knocking out two long scoring drives. Tyquan King finished both drives with short touchdown runs to erase a 20-14 deficit and move to a 27-20 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Gilbert (11-2) didn’t let Dillon run that far away. The game was tied 34-34 by the 3-minute mark of the game.
But Dillon got the ball with less than three minutes to play. After Singleton closed out the short drive with a 14-yard score, Gilbert had just 16 second but nearly pulled off another game-tying score.
“It’s been one heck of a run by our guys, they’ve got nothing to hang their heads about,” Leaphart said. “It was an awesome year.”
The first half was a tale of mess-ups and make-ups.
Gilbert fumbled the ball away on its first possession, but forced Dillon to turn the ball over on downs. From there, the Indians drove 78 yards on 10 plays and scored on Tolen’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Holt at the 4:35 mark of the first.
The Wildcats responded with Jay Lester’s 1-yard TD run three minutes later.
In the second quarter, Gilbert drove to the Dillon 5-yard line, but Tolen threw a mistake that landed in the hands of Wildcat defender Dazion Alford Day at the 4-yard line. Day scooted around Gilbert players and finished off a 96-yard interception return.
After Gilbert’s three-and-out on the next possession, Dillon muffed the punt and Gilbert recovered at the Dillon 36. Cook finished off the short drive with a 1-yard TD run to tie things up again at 14-14 with 4:08 left in the half.
Gilbert got the ball again. With no time on the clock, Tolen evaded a huge Dillon pass rush and lofted the ball 52 yards to Holt who snagged it for a TD to give the Indians a 20-14 halftime lead.
Scoring summary
Dillon 7-7-13-14—41
Gilbert 7-13-0-14—34
1st Quarter
G –Alec Holt 8 pass from Jy Tolen (Rajan Cheema kick) 4:35
D – Jay Lester 1 run (Kavi Patel kick) 1:33
2nd Quarter
D – Dazion Alford Day 96 interception return (Patel kick) 7:37
G – Dre Cook 1 run (Cheema kick) 4:08
G – Holt 52 pass from Tolen (kick failed) :00
3rd Quarter
D –Tyquan King 2 run (kick failed) 6:22
D – King 1 run (Patel kick) :42
4th Quarter
G – Matt Reed 13 pass from Holt (Cheema kick) 9:05
D – Quashod Singleton 45 pass from Lester (Patel kick) 7:33
G – Cook 2 run (Cheema kick) 3:12
D – Singleton 14 run (Patel kick) :16
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Dillon – Nemo Squire 17-68, Jay Lester 11-55, Quashod Singleton 3-43, Ahmari Huggins-Bruce 1-11, Tyquan King 2-5, Tyree Porter 1-2. Gilbert – Ja’Mias Holloway 8-52, Alec Holt 5-50, Dre Cook 5-32, Jy Tolen 10-45, Ty Walker 5-34.
Passing: Dillon – Jay Lester 12-18-0 181. Gilbert – Jy Tolen 23-28-1 300, Alec Holt 1-1-0 13.
Receiving: Dillon – Ahmari Huggins-Bruce 4-46, Quashod Singleton 5-81, Nemo Squire 1-19, Bobo McKinnon 1-12. Gilbert – Ja’Mias Holloway 7-64, Alec Holt 5-129, Jacob Smith 3-40, Dre Cook 3-10, Joel Franklin 1-2.
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 11:11 PM.