Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, will be a memorable night for the Gans Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies made it a happy homecoming with a 30-18 victory over the Midway Chargers on Friday night at Grizzly Field.

“It was good getting a victory finally,” first-year Gans coach Gary Hixon said. “These kids worked hard. We’re getting better each week. I’m so proud of these kids. I’m so happy for them.”

Furthermore, it was Hixon’s first-ever win as a head coach.

“It’s my first win ever as a (head) coach,” he said. “It is sweet. It’s very sweet.”

Things looked very favorably early on as Gans defender Austin Hines recovered a Midway fumble at the Gans 46-yard line with 11:24 left in the opening period.

Unfortunately, the Grizzlies (1-3) drove as deep as the Midway 7-yard line, but were stopped on fourth down at the Midway 12-yard line with 5:53 remaining in the quarter.

Thanks to a 40-yard pass play, the Chargers (0-3) got it out to their own 42-yard line, but they ended up punting, with the Grizzlies beginning the possession at their own 29-yard line with 41 seconds left in the first quarter, which ended up being a scoreless period.

Each team exchanged punts, and the Grizzlies took over at their own 26-yard line with 8:37 left before halftime. Aided by a personal foul penalty on Midway for a late hit out of bounds, the Grizzlies needed only 39 seconds to move 74 yards as the final 49 yards came on the first of two touchdown runs by Taeshawn Achan as the senior running back rambled 49 yards for the score. Quarterback Jasper Green scored the two-point conversion for an 8-0 lead for Gans with 7:58 remaining in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Midway return man went 32 yards to the Gans 45 with 7:44 left in the first half. The Chargers cashed in the drive with a 31-yard TD pass from quarterback Hunter Oliver to Nathen Walker. The twopoint conversion run play failed, keeping the Grizzlies ahead 8-6 with 4:50 remaining before halftime.

The ensuing possession for the Grizzlies began at their own 42-yard line. It only took only 63 seconds for Gans — and more specifically, Achan — to find the paydirt for the second time in the first half as the senior rambled 59 yards for the score with 3:44 left before halftime. The twopoint pass failed, keeping the Grizzlies ahead 14-6.

The Chargers tried to mount a late firsthalf rally to end the first half on a high note. The Chargers took over possession at their own 41-yard line with 3:26 remaining before halftime. They drove as deep as the Gans 2, but were stopped on downs with 19 seconds left before halftime.

Gans tried to score a first-half ending TD. Green ran 25 yards to midfield, then hit Hines for a 36-yard pass reception, but he was tackled before he could get out of bounds and the clock ran out — ending the first half with Gans ahead 14-6 at the break.

After the first secondhalf drive by the Grizzlies stalled, the Chargers took advantage of two big runs to get them into the Gans red zone. Then, on third down, the Gans defenders almost knocked down the pass, but it ended up being caught at the Gans 3. Then on fourth down, the Chargers scored on a 3-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion pass play failed, keeping Gans ahead 1412 with 3:13 left in the third quarter.

Midway tried to onside kick the ball, but Gans player Preston Bennett made the recovery at the Gans 47-yard line with 3:10 left in the period.

Thanks to a 49-yard run by Green on the next-to-last play of the quarter to get the ball down to the Midway 3. Two plays later, homecoming king Brenden “Boots” Strickland scored on a 1-yard run on the last play of the period.

The conversion, after one score on the previous attempt when Green hit Hines but Gans was called for illegal motion, thus moving the conversion back five yards. Ultimately, Green called his own number for the two points and scored, increasing the Gans lead to 22-12 after three quarters.

The Gans defense set up the game-clinching fumble recovery as Green recovered the loose ball at the Midway 28 with 11:36 left in the game.

The gift was turned into the game-clinching victory as Green called his own number to score from nine yards out. Strickland, who was the homecoming king and crowned Gabbie Price homecoming king, scored the two-point conversion, upping the Gans lead to 30-12 with 9:04 left to play.

The Chargers scored once more on a 3-yard touchdown run with 9:04 left to play in the game. The run failed, keeping Gans ahead 30-18 with 3:03 left in regulation.

Midway tried an onside kick, but it went out of bounds at the Gans 45-yard line After a 23yard run by Green and a 17-yard run by Achan got the Grizzlies down to about the Midway 25yard line. From there, it was victory formation for the Grizzlies.

“Last week when we played Watts, we figured out who we are,” Hixon said. “We are a doubletight (end set), run-thefootball I-formation team. We were sticking to that. Then, our starting tailback (Fletcher Owens) get hurt in the first quarter, and we had Taeshawn Achan step up and run the ball like he’s been doing it all his life. That’s probably the first carries he’s ever had. He had two long touchdown runs.”

The Grizzlies will be idle next week as Porum, which would have been Gans opponent next week, had to drop football due to not having enough players. The Grizzlies will return to action at 7 p.m. Oct. 3 when they hit the road to meet Cave Springs in the final non-District BII-4 tune-up before district play begins Oct. 11.

“We would rather be playing (next Friday night), but we took some bumps and bruises (Thursday) night,” Hixon said. “A week off will be nice to start healing and get ready for Cave Springs.”